Author Affiliation

  • Dr. Ishrat Husain is former Dean and Director at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi.

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Economics

Was this content written or created while at IBA?

Yes

Document Type

Article

Source Publication

Discourse

Keywords

Economy,Developing countries,Elitist model,Market

Disciplines

Business

Abstract

It is now well established in theory and practice that developing countries which were successful in raising the living standards of their population were characterised by a strong and capable state and efficient competitive markets. The binary ‘State’ versus ‘Market’ debate has outlived its utility. Pakistan has lagged behind others because a small class of elites has rigged the markets and captured the state to their advantage keeping the majority of the population deprived of the benefits of growth. The phrase ‘elite capture’ was not so widely rampant when my book, The Economy of an Elitist State was published twenty-five years ago. This word has now gained currency and has become congruent with the decline of the Pakistani economy and hypothesised as a major explanatory factor for this decline. There is a widely held belief: the elites in Pakistan have expanded in number and are getting stronger in influence in matters of public policy and unless this model is dismantled Pakistan would continue on its downward trajectory. How does the elitist model work in actual practice? A clear understanding of the dynamics is essential for the measures required for the dismantling the elitist system of governance.

Download

Included in

Business Commons

Share

COinS