Trade Liberalisation and Regional Disparity in Pakistan

This is the first study to distinguish possible link between trade liberalisation and regional disparities under dissimilar political regimes, such as autocracy and democracy. It uses Pakistan as a case study to draw broader lessons for other developing countries. Pakistan’s military, which has directly controlled the country’s affairs for more than one-half of its post-independence history and which often retained real political power even during periods of democratic rule, has played a major role in trade liberalisation. Regional disparities have increased steadily since the beginning of major trade liberalisation attempts in the 1980s, and at present, regional conflicts and the associated regional disparities are extremely high. The authors critically review the country’s political economy of trade liberalisation and the story of regional disparities. Thereby, possible relations among political regimes, trade liberalisation and regional disparities are identified.Using the specifically developed computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, the effects of trade liberalisation on regional disparities are quantitatively examined, with an emphasis on the major export industries at the national level and on the relative output and employment growth at the regional level. This book will be of interest to academics and economists interested in development economics in general and South Asia in particular