Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics

143-162

Authors: Syed Fayyaz HASSAN & Hafiz A. PASHA*

This paper analyses the pattern of gross population densities at the census tract level in Karachi in 1981. The basic negative exponential function of land density with respect to distance from CBD is ex tended in a number of ways to allow for the peculiar features of urban growth in Karachi. These features include land-use zoning near the CBD, spatial autocorrelation, high density slums in proximity to major employment centers and at the urban periphery, etc. Various econometric refinements are also introduced to remove any bias in estimation. The basic conclusion is that land density and its gradient is low in Karachi in relation to other major Third World cities. A number of explanations are offered for the extensive pattern of urban development. To the extent that this is sub-optimal, a number of suggestions are made for raising densities over time.

179-206

Authors: Shamsuddin AHMAD**

The cross-section and time-series studies on the growth pattern of developed countries (DCs) and less developed countries (LDCs) tend to suggest that the share of the primary sector in COP declines and that of the secondary and tertiary sectors increases with an increase in the real per capita income. This paper examines these hypotheses using lime series data from the Bangladesh economy during the period 1959-60 to 1979-80. It is found that the share of the primary sector in GOP declined and that of the secondary and tertiary sectors increased. but such shifts away from the primary sector were associated with declining real per capita income. Thus the growth pattern of Bangladesh is found to differ from that of most industrial and Third World countries as well as from Socialist European economics.

13-46

Authors: Sajjad AKHTAR*

This paper attempts to provide baseline estimates of savings propensities by various levels and few socio-economic groups from information on 7504 urban families contained in the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of 1979. Fitting popular specifications in the literature to a current and residual measure of household savings does not reveal a consistent and unambiguous relationship of increasing marginal propensities with rising income levels. At mean level of income, estimates based on entire data set revealed that the household’s marginal propensity ranged from 0.21 to 0.27. Average propensity to save at 0.056 across all specifications, was more robust. Excluding very low income households, which possibly overstate consumption (about 10 per,cent of the sample), all others displayed more robust marginal and average propensity estimates ranging from 0.18 to 0.21 and 0.077 respectively. Contrary to studies in India, renters (excluding the self-employed group) not only have lower average propensity but a smaller marginal propensity to save than home-owners although the former had an 18 per cent higher per capita income. Income-source criteria were employed to separate self-employed from employee head of households. Regression results indicated that the former's average and marginal savings propensities were higher than the latter's though this difference between the two groups was narrower than the one observed in some studies of the U.S.A. and India.

63-79

Authors: J. C. FLINN & Mubarik ALI*

Increasing competition in international markets, and increasing production costs, increases the need for greater efficiency in Basmati rice production. Levels of technical inefficiency which now exist were estimated via a frontier production function. The modal level of technical inefficiency at farm specific resource levels among 115 Basmati rice producers was 20 per cent which translated into a modal yield loss of 0.4 tons/ha. The better educated households tended to be more technically efficient; late transplanting, and late fertilizer application and water shortages contributed significantly to farm-specific technical inefficiency.