The purpose of the Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE) is to provide a forum where leading professional economists and policy-makers can exchange ideas on the vital economic and social issues facing Pakistan. With the passage of time, the philosophy of development has undergone a profound change. There is now, as never before, an increasing awareness of the complexities involved in the development process which has engendered a greater sense of realism. In Pakistan’s development experience, a number of problems typically confronting developing countries in their progress towards a self-reliant economy have been tackled. These problems are complex and multidimensional in nature. High rates of population growth, uneven distribution of income, low literacy rates, poor health facilities, relatively low savings rates, large internal and external deficits, and inadequate physical infrastructure for energy generation and communications threaten to nullify the modest economic gains made here, as in many other developing countries. Despite these problems, the development process in Pakistan has progressed reasonably well, although not without encountering difficulties. The Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Society is also an occasion for stock-taking of the work done on various socioeconomic problems of Pakistan at PIDE and elsewhere, as well as for suggesting new initiatives for further research. These Meetings provide for the much-needed communication amongst the economics profession, policy-makers, and various schools of interested observers of the ongoing debate concerning development. The Fifteenth Annual General Meeting, being held on November 5-8, 1999, will address such important topics as regulatory issues in telecommunications, sustainable agriculture, demographic perspectives, social development, fiscal and monetary issues, international trade, poverty and its alleviation, governance and institutions, human resource development, civil service reforms, information technology, macro management, investment and industrial development, agriculture and rural development, and dynamics of social transformation. A highlight of this year’s Conference is the Inaugural Address by Shaukat Aziz, Minister of Finance, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad. The Quaid-i-Azam Memorial Lecture, being delivered by Jock R. Anderson of the World Bank, is titled “Institutional Reforms, Agricultural Knowledge System, and Economic Growth”. The Iqbal Memorial Lecture, by Paul P. Streeten of Boston University, will be on “Governance”. The Mahbub Ul Haq Memorial Lecture, by Anwar Shah, is titled “Governing for Results in a Globalised and Localised World”. Speakers in the Distinguished Lectures series include Parvez Hasan, Nadeem Ul Haque, Rashid Faruqee, Ishrat Husain, and Charles H. Kennedy.

PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE 15th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF PSDE – 1999

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