Imtiaz Ahmad, Maha Ahmad, Ghulam Qadir and Asad Khan Afridi
This study aims to estimate Pakistan’s export potential in new and existing export products, as well as their potential destination markets.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to estimate Pakistan’s export potential in new and existing export products, as well as their potential destination markets.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a nonparametric approach based on demand, supply and easiness factors for estimating export potential at disaggregated product and destination levels.
Findings
A significant number of new export products (extensive margin) and existing products (intensive margin) are identified that have export potential. The estimated unrealized export potential at extensive margins is $2bn and at intensive margins is $5bn. The range of new products included value-added products, semifinished products and intermediate products. Surprisingly, there is high potential to diversify in China and export existing products more intensively in the EU. Moreover, the potential at extensive margins is regional diverse compared to intensive margins.
Research limitations/implications
The methodology used in this paper only provides export potential for short-to-medium term period because the global demand conditions are varying. Also, the mineral and resource-based products cannot be included in the analysis because their exports are heavily dependent on the availability of natural resources.
Practical implications
The findings have important policy implications in terms of providing guidelines for government policies related to industrial development, international trade and export promotion at the product and destination level. Overall, the study reveals that traditional sectors lack room for product diversification. As the existing export incentives favor major industries. To foster diversification, existing incentives must be redesigned to cover new products or sectors. Moreover, China has the greatest potential for product diversification, while Europe has the greatest potential to export current products more intensively. Further research is needed to simulate trade policy scenarios and estimate demand, supply and ease factors in export potential.
Originality/value
This study provides a unique perspective on export potential assessment at disaggregated product and destination levels, reinforcing the importance of redesigning trade policies and export incentives separately for export diversification.
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In this chapter, I uncover the jail diaries of a revolutionary woman of the 20th century Pakistan, Akhtar Baloch. Although feminism in Pakistan has oscillated between liberal and…
Abstract
In this chapter, I uncover the jail diaries of a revolutionary woman of the 20th century Pakistan, Akhtar Baloch. Although feminism in Pakistan has oscillated between liberal and postcolonial camps, through reading Akhtar's diaries, compiled as Prison Narratives (2017), I center Akhtar's own struggles for Sindh, along with the resistance of the women she met in the prison convicted for the murders of their husbands, to better theorize Marxist Feminism in Pakistan that overturns the structures that commodify women through love and revolution. My article will show the commodification of women's bodies; the “sale” of women through marriage as the goal of this commodification; the lovelessness and alienation women experience in commodified marriages; the unexpected fall in love with someone whom it is subversive for the commodified wife to love; the subversion of this unexpected event that leads to the attempted resolution of this tension through murder; the separation of the lovers through the incarceration of the woman by the capitalist-patriarchal state; and finally, the unexpected outcome (albeit the most common one) that the male lover abandons his female lover once she's jailed, but the defiantly brave female lover finds platonic love in jail through close female friendships with other women who are similarly brave in both love and in revolution. Through this exposition, I show that Akhtar's diaries provide a way for us to build on Marxist Feminist theory through a theory of love and revolution from a Sindhi feminist perspective.
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The chapter aims to empirically explore trends and issues concerning Indian wellness services being taken internationally for commercial use by wellness service providers and…
Abstract
The chapter aims to empirically explore trends and issues concerning Indian wellness services being taken internationally for commercial use by wellness service providers and tourists. The text also highlights how their authenticity gets compromised in place of profitability. The enquiry is approached through a conceptual framework of wellness tourism and subsequent tourism concerns. While scholars have recently turned their attention to tourism challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, the perspective of digitalization within tourism can help to nuance this area of concern. Some recommendations for the Indian wellness tourism sector include digital solutions, screen-induced tourism, measures towards tourists' safety, regulations concerning certifications and targeting new client segments. Furthermore, raising greater awareness about the philosophical backdrop of Indian wellness services amongst international tourists would contribute to practice and theory while resurrecting the wellness tourism industry in India.
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Rubina Begum, Fahad Riaz Choudhry, Tahir Mehmood Khan, Faizah Safina Bakrin, Yaser Mohammed Al-Worafi and Khadeeja Munawar
The term “Mental health literacy” is defined as knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management or prevention. The importance of health…
Abstract
Purpose
The term “Mental health literacy” is defined as knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management or prevention. The importance of health literacy for physical health is widely studied; however, the area of mental health literacy in Pakistan has been comparatively neglected. The purpose of this paper is to address the knowledge about mental health in people living in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
Relevant literature relating to mental health literacy was identified through various database searches. The databases searched included: PubMed, Cochrane database of Systemic Reviews, PsycINFO using the terms mental health, mental health literacy, mental health education, Pakistan.
Findings
Literature suggests that there is dearth of knowledge about mental illnesses and their treatment among public. This review also highlights the importance of mental health literacy among professionals working in the field of health care. In Pakistan, due to low literacy rate, a high percentage of poverty and dearth of trained professionals warrants an emendation in approaches established for attaining the goal of public health and psychiatric care.
Practical implications
Findings have implications for practitioners in the field of mental health care as well as designing targeted interventions for enhancing mental health literacy and help-seeking behavior in the future.
Originality/value
A limited understanding and lack of improvement in mental health literacy may interfere with society’s acceptance of evidence-based mental health care which may hamper the delivery of adequate mental health services to the needy.
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Jameel Ahmed, Ahamed Kameel Mydin Meera, Muhammad Yusuf Saleem and Patrick Collins
This paper aims to apply the doctrine of siyasah shariyyah to a policy proposal in the area of monetary economics, namely, the Grondona system of conditional currency…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to apply the doctrine of siyasah shariyyah to a policy proposal in the area of monetary economics, namely, the Grondona system of conditional currency convertibility, which has been proposed as a practical means of resisting the economic instability caused by the present-day fiat money system.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses library research to review the literature relevant to the Grondona system, and examines the extent to which its operations conform to the principle of siyasah shariyyah, thereby encouraging Maslahah, i.e. the public interest.
Findings
It has been found that the Grondona system conforms to the philosophy of siyasah shariyyah because it promotes public welfare in a number of ways. First, it is based on the fundamental principle of Prophet Yusuf’s/Joseph (peace be upon him) economic planning, which is accumulating reserves of primary commodities during times of plenty and releasing those reserves of commodities during periods of scarcity. Second, it provides the necessary linkage between the monetary world and the real economy. Third, it could be implemented in parallel with the existing monetary system by using the national currency. Fourth, it would help the least developed countries of the world, which mainly depend on exports of primary commodities (mostly agricultural).
Research limitations/implications
Because of the chosen research approach, this research study is theoretical in nature. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to evaluate the system from economic perspective based on simulation for the purpose of possible implementation.
Practical implications
The paper includes important implications for the policymakers in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries for the possible implementation of Grondona system.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils an identified need to apply the philosophy of siyasah shariyyah to the area of monetary economics.
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Abbas Ali Chandio, Yuansheng Jiang and Abdul Rehman
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of support price on wheat production in Pakistan during the period 1971–2016.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of support price on wheat production in Pakistan during the period 1971–2016.
Design/methodology/approach
To capture the effect of support price on wheat production, the authors estimated the long-run linkage by using the ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration.
Findings
This study confirmed the presence of a positive and long-term effect of area under cultivation, support price and fertilizer consumption on wheat production through ARDL bounds test. The results showed that both in the long run and short run, support price plays an important role in the enhancement of wheat production. The authors also found that the coefficients of the area under cultivation and fertilizer consumption variables were statistically significant and positive both in the long run and short run.
Originality/value
The use of the ARDL approach that examines the long-run and short-run effects of support price on wheat production in Pakistan makes the current study unique. An emerging economic literature suggests that only limited research has been conducted in this area.