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Comments on Zubair Iqbal’s “PAKISTAN’S CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS—AN IMPERFECT STORM"

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Nice piece by Zubair! It is typical of most economic writing (other examples are Ashfaq and Meekal) in Pakistan which has now been conditioned to think “macro-first” ignoring the underlying micro and institutional problems. Written in typical IMF fashion giving primacy to macroeconomics assuming that it is independent o political economy, institutions and governance. For example “It has become fashionable to trace the current economic malady to “wrong” growth strategy of the past 60 years. This is neither meaningful nor helpful in understanding the current policy imperatives. Yes, there has been a secular weakening of institutions but that is not an excuse for inappropriate policies. ???” This is what Krugman calls the dark age of macroeconomics. Failure of underlying institutions and lack of policymaking capacity can only manifest itself through poor policy choices. Add to that the deliberate attempt by the powers that be to destroy policymaking capacity (case in point T
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The insanity of Our Economic Policy

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