Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics

1-24

Authors: D.I. EYAREFE* and Gbenga P. SANUSI**

Education represents the bedrock of intellectual and citizen consciousness for development of any country. However, the success or failure of many education policies and programs rests on the level of funding and management, to a large extent. This study examines the level of funding and management under two different regimes in Nigeria; the civilian and military. The sources and associated problems with government funding of public higher institutions are identified as well as their possible imparts and implications. Descriptive Statistics and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression were employed in comparing the funding and management of education during the two regimes in Nigeria. The relationship between the government capital and recurrent expenditure on education and economic growth during the years under review, were equally established. The study reveals that though the funding of education is under the concurrent list in constitution, it has received less than the expected funds from both the federal and the state governments under the civilian and military regimes, especially the military government. Thus, the near total of the sector and the unimaginable loss of income to other nations collapsed, through immigration of Nigerians to other parts of the world for qualitative education and the teeming figure of the unemployed. To foster a more efficient and effective funding of education for a more robust higher learning institutions in Nigeria, the implementation of the UNESCO recommendations of twenty-six per cent of annual budget for the education sector is a necessary condition. Private corporations should be encouraged to increase their social responsibility to the education institutes.

45-66

Authors: Abdul HANNAN* and Hasan M. MOHSIN**

Natural resources are generally considered to be very important for development of any country. Sachs and Warner (1995) empirical study initiated a new debate in the field of economics that countries where natural resources are in abundance have slow growth than the countries which are resource deficient, called the resource curse hypothesis. Many studies have empirically tested this hypothesis and found mixed results. Most of the studies in literature have used primary products exports as a measure of resource abundance which is not very appropriate. This study extends the literature by using various proxies of resource abundance and has decomposed the total natural resource rent to oil, gas, and mineral rents. The study further includes various regions in the empirical analysis to find whether resource curse is region specific or not? Almost all possible channels of resource curse have been investigated. Empirical estimates by using panel data technique (within effect model) have also been provided. The results indicate that natural resources do not adversely affect economic growth directly in the large sample of 170 countries for the period 1991 to 2011. Regional analysis of resource curse hypothesis revealed that South Asia is the only region where resource curse exists with all types of resources because of low level of institutions. In all other regions, natural resource rents positively impact the economic growth.

119-233

Authors: Kaiser BENGALI*

Despite seven decades of independence of Pakistan, large parts of the country remain woefully undeveloped with poor infrastructure and limited income generating opportunities. Balochistan stands out in this respect. However, development is possible. Balochistan has a manageable population, comprising just 1.5 million families. At one job per family, Balochistan needs to provide just 1.5 million jobs. This is eminently feasible and it is possible to create an almost zero-unemployment economy in Balochistan. There are a number of theories of under-development and of growth. The theories that best fit Balochistan are ‘Big Push’ and ‘Unbalanced Growth’. The two theories postulate that the injection of a large project in any one sector creates an imbalance with respect to other sectors. However, the project performs the role of an ‘engine of growth’ and propels growth in other sectors. Balochistan is, as yet, a primary sector economy of Pakistan; more specifically, it is essentially a pastoral economy. As such, it is prudent for the province to concentrate scarce fiscal resources in selected sectors and aim to obtain maximum impact. More importantly, it is necessary to chart a vision and set a direction. A vision sets the direction, which – sequentially – enables a strategy to be formulated, a policy to be framed, plans to be drawn and, accordingly, schemes to be prepared and implemented. Today, the development process has been turned on its head. Schemes are prepared and (half) implemented without the context of a plan, a policy, a strategy, a direction, or a vision. The result is expenditure of billions of rupees in the name of development, without any meaningful development.