The writer is senior research economist at PIDE.
BREAKING away from the country’s low and declining growth trajectory calls for deep-rooted structural reforms. Realising this, the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics with consultation from economists and development practitioners in the country recently launched the PIDE Reform Agenda for Accelerated and Sustained Growth.
The development model which Pakistan has followed since the 1960s emphasises investment in hardware — infrastructure etc. This model developed by Dr Mahbubul Haq and the Harvard Advisory Group did serve the immediate needs of the economy at the time. However, with new knowledge and changing dynamics, our development model needs to undergo a paradigm shift, argues the Reform Agenda — the country now needs to focus more on developing growth-conducive software for society.