Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics

73-95

Authors: Haroon JAMAL* and Sohail JAVED**

The study provides estimates of overall incidence, as well as, the distribution and burden of General Sales Tax across household welfare levels by applying the latest available household consumption data. The analysis is carried out at national, regional and provincial levels; separately for food, non-durable and durable expenditure items. Effective GST rate across deciles of per capita expenditure and Kakwani Summary Index of tax progressivity are estimated for the year 2010-11. Results in general, indicate proportionality of GST incidence associated with some progressivity at the upper part of income distribution. The relative intensity in terms of magnitudes of Kakwani Index indicates regressivity in GST on food and progressivity on durable expenditure items. A simulation exercise is also carried out to observe the impact of non-uniform GST rates for expenditure commodity groups on distribution of the tax burden.

115-139

Authors: Aliya BUSHRA** and Nasra WAJIHA***

Women empowerment is one of the most important factor which is now being discussed in nearly all developing countries. In this paper, an attempt is made to explore the determinants which have an influence on women empowerment in Pakistan. The sample of the study covers 200 female respondents of the two renowned colleges of Lahore. The empirical results of this study show that contents of education, economic participation of women, poverty and economic opportunity available to women increase their empowerment. In this study, apart from the conventional variables, a variable, “women” maintaining a bank account was also tested, which showed an extreme significant and positive impact on women empowerment. This supports the economic opportunity available for females to increase their weightage in the society. Finally, it is concluded that these significant factors influence empowerment of women, and therefore, one can focus on these determinants to increase and enhance women role in the culture of Pakistan.

1-12

Authors: Zahid AHMAD* and Anam TARIQ**

The paper examines the impact of international trade on tourism of the top ten GDP ranking countries of South and South East Asian Region for a period of 15 years, 1995 to 2009. The study includes two independent variables of trade: imports and exports, and one dependent variable of tourism – the number of tourist departures. Pooled Regression Model, Fixed Effect Model and Random Effect Model have been applied as a research tool. Results of the study reveals that the international trade and tourism industry help to promote economic development of countries of the South and South-East Asian Region.

31-54

Authors: Naeem AKRAM* and Asma GULZAR**

Though the Pakistan’s contribution to greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions is miniscule as compared to other countries i.e., only 0.8 per cent of the total GHG emissions, yet it is one of the major victims of climate change effects. The present study is an attempt to explore the impacts of climate change on economic growth of Pakistan by conducting national as well as provincial level analysis for the period 1973-2010. The study uses temperature as proxy for climate change. It has been found that temperature has a negative and significant relationship with GDP and productivity in agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors. However, severity of these negative impacts is higher in agriculture in comparison with manufacturing and services. The provincial results suggest that there is a negative and significant relationship of climate change with growth in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) while insignificant relationship with growth in Punjab and Sindh provinces. The results reveal that a comprehensive policy regarding adoption of mitigation strategies to combat climate change is very crucial for Pakistan.