This eBook is an effort for extraordinary times. COVID-19 has already spread and still spreading ... more This eBook is an effort for extraordinary times. COVID-19 has already spread and still spreading human woes around the globe. The loss and damage to the human life, the economic impact, emotional and psychological burden, losses in businesses and many other impacts are unknowable. The objects of this eBook are: to provide policy advise on upcoming global recession, to measure the impact on trade, to examine and to provide analysis of emotional and psychological burden on households and society, commentary and suggestive measures for monetary and fiscal policy; and even much more. We are living in exceptionally difficult times with too much uncertainty—even once this pandemic is gone the pains, sufferings and losses will remain for a longer period of time. <br>
This paper adopts identity as a core concept. Following Akerlof and Kranton (2010), it demonstrat... more This paper adopts identity as a core concept. Following Akerlof and Kranton (2010), it demonstrates how our social identities, and not just economic incentives, influence our decisions. I acknowledge that identity is a multi-layered concept incorporating not only a social dimension (class and gender), but also has ideological (religious orientation) and linguistic dimensions. The paper argues that, even within the same respective identity group, context is important, in the sense that decisions vary based on who one interacts with, their identity, and their respective actions.Non-PRIFPRI1; PSSP; CRP2DSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper investigates the effect of a shift in social/rel... more In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper investigates the effect of a shift in social/religious norms on compliance behaviour. Religion-based norms of behaviour have the potential to counteract newly established norms of health-preserving behaviours. One such event occurred during the Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations, which were particularly problematic for Muslim-majority populations. We study the impact of such an event on compliance behaviour in one country – Pakistan – and find that, in a large sample of University students, compliance declines immediately after the religious holiday. Our effects are identified by unprompted delays in fielding a survey measuring compliance with prescribed behaviours. We report a decline in compliance, with no observable decline in other well documented predictors of compliance behaviours (that is, risk perceptions, or trust in the authorities). We find that this decline in compliance is largely attributable to male participants, with one important exception. We further confirm our results by conducting robustness checks incorporating matching techniques.
Earlier studies that investigated the J-Curve phenomenon for Pakistan employed aggregate trade da... more Earlier studies that investigated the J-Curve phenomenon for Pakistan employed aggregate trade data. These studies suffered from the “aggregation bias” problem. In order to overcome this constraint, this paper tests the effects of real exchange rate depreciation in the Pakistani Rupee on the bilateral trade balance between Pakistan and her 12 respective trade partners. These countries, together, account for almost half of Pakistan’s total trade. In order to differentiate between the long-run equilibrium and short-run disequilibrium dynamics, and also to deal with non-stationary data, the ARDL approach is used. The results do not provide any support for the standard J-curve phenomenon.
The objective of this paper is to investigate the longer-term adult economic outcomes of attendin... more The objective of this paper is to investigate the longer-term adult economic outcomes of attending a private school: the analysis seeks to determine if private schooling may have an additional non-cognitive impact that is not captured by childhood outcomes such as test scores and academic attainment. Using the longitudinal design of the PSID data set the analysis follows children aged 3 to 12 years old in 1968 into adulthood (1995 to 2001); a Probit regression model is used to determine the effect of type of schooling on the probability of the individual living in poverty as an adult. The effect of attending a private Catholic school is significant across different specifications and considerable in magnitude: controlling for socio-demographic variables, attending a Catholic private school, as opposed to a public school, is predicted to reduce the probability of adult poverty by 5.7 percentage points, holding all other variables in the model constant at the respective sample mean. F...
This paper adopts identity as a central concept and demonstrates how the institutional and the ec... more This paper adopts identity as a central concept and demonstrates how the institutional and the economic environments in which we exist forge our identities and, in turn, our behavior. I argue that, not just our own identity, but also the identity of the individuals we interact with shapes behavior. Exploiting the design of a public goods game, the objective of this study is to investigate how Pakistani university students from distinct education streams behave. The following questions are explored: (1) Does coopera- tive behaviour differ across identity groups and class lines, (2) Does the propensity to punish vary across gender and class, and (3) Does the behaviour vary within gender and social identity groups, where it is the college/university that forms the social identity group under investigation. The experiment aims to capture both the tendency to cooperate among different identity groups and also the tendency to punish. While the existing experimental literature in the Pakistani context has focused on measuring trust, the tendency to cooperate and to punish has not been investigated. Moreover, the student sample includes both male and female madrassa students, so the study is better able to explore both the social and gender dimensions of cooperative and penalizing behavior. I consider three types of universities which form three identity groups in the context of the Pakistani educa- tional landscape: Elite English-medium universities with a liberal arts curriculum, public and private sector universi- ties which cater to middle and lower middle-income students, and madrassas. These groups are further sliced across gender lines. Students from each of these three groups differ not only in terms of their socio-economic background, but also in terms of the language of instruction, the religious content of their curriculum, and even their exposure to print and electronic media. To better understand these differences, the experiment is accompanied with a detailed questionnaire that asks the students about their educational, social, and religious experience. The experimental results help us break down existing stereotypes by showing that both male and female madrassa students are the most generous. Female madrassa students also punish the least. Moreover, I find more gender and social consciousness in men than women when deciding to penalize or not. Male madrassa students pe- nalize female students more than other male students, while elite male students penalize female students less than male students in the other two identity groups, suggesting hostility towards women diminishes in higher income groups. With respect to male elite students, I observe them penalizing madrassa students more heavily than fellow elite students. This suggests the presence of spite among the elite boys towards high contributors.
In estimating trade elasticities for Pakistan, most previous researchers have employed non-statio... more In estimating trade elasticities for Pakistan, most previous researchers have employed non-stationary data and OLS or 2SLS techniques. In this paper we use Johansen's cointegration methodology to re-investigate the long-run trade elasticities and existence of the Marshall-Lerner ...
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system ... more All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwisewithout prior permission of the author(s) and or the Pakistan Institute of ...
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this research report are those of the author and do not necess... more DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this research report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Social Policy and Development Centre. Research Reports describe research in progress by the author and are published to elicit comments and to ...
This eBook is an effort for extraordinary times. COVID-19 has already spread and still spreading ... more This eBook is an effort for extraordinary times. COVID-19 has already spread and still spreading human woes around the globe. The loss and damage to the human life, the economic impact, emotional and psychological burden, losses in businesses and many other impacts are unknowable. The objects of this eBook are: to provide policy advise on upcoming global recession, to measure the impact on trade, to examine and to provide analysis of emotional and psychological burden on households and society, commentary and suggestive measures for monetary and fiscal policy; and even much more. We are living in exceptionally difficult times with too much uncertainty—even once this pandemic is gone the pains, sufferings and losses will remain for a longer period of time. <br>
This paper adopts identity as a core concept. Following Akerlof and Kranton (2010), it demonstrat... more This paper adopts identity as a core concept. Following Akerlof and Kranton (2010), it demonstrates how our social identities, and not just economic incentives, influence our decisions. I acknowledge that identity is a multi-layered concept incorporating not only a social dimension (class and gender), but also has ideological (religious orientation) and linguistic dimensions. The paper argues that, even within the same respective identity group, context is important, in the sense that decisions vary based on who one interacts with, their identity, and their respective actions.Non-PRIFPRI1; PSSP; CRP2DSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper investigates the effect of a shift in social/rel... more In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper investigates the effect of a shift in social/religious norms on compliance behaviour. Religion-based norms of behaviour have the potential to counteract newly established norms of health-preserving behaviours. One such event occurred during the Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations, which were particularly problematic for Muslim-majority populations. We study the impact of such an event on compliance behaviour in one country – Pakistan – and find that, in a large sample of University students, compliance declines immediately after the religious holiday. Our effects are identified by unprompted delays in fielding a survey measuring compliance with prescribed behaviours. We report a decline in compliance, with no observable decline in other well documented predictors of compliance behaviours (that is, risk perceptions, or trust in the authorities). We find that this decline in compliance is largely attributable to male participants, with one important exception. We further confirm our results by conducting robustness checks incorporating matching techniques.
Earlier studies that investigated the J-Curve phenomenon for Pakistan employed aggregate trade da... more Earlier studies that investigated the J-Curve phenomenon for Pakistan employed aggregate trade data. These studies suffered from the “aggregation bias” problem. In order to overcome this constraint, this paper tests the effects of real exchange rate depreciation in the Pakistani Rupee on the bilateral trade balance between Pakistan and her 12 respective trade partners. These countries, together, account for almost half of Pakistan’s total trade. In order to differentiate between the long-run equilibrium and short-run disequilibrium dynamics, and also to deal with non-stationary data, the ARDL approach is used. The results do not provide any support for the standard J-curve phenomenon.
The objective of this paper is to investigate the longer-term adult economic outcomes of attendin... more The objective of this paper is to investigate the longer-term adult economic outcomes of attending a private school: the analysis seeks to determine if private schooling may have an additional non-cognitive impact that is not captured by childhood outcomes such as test scores and academic attainment. Using the longitudinal design of the PSID data set the analysis follows children aged 3 to 12 years old in 1968 into adulthood (1995 to 2001); a Probit regression model is used to determine the effect of type of schooling on the probability of the individual living in poverty as an adult. The effect of attending a private Catholic school is significant across different specifications and considerable in magnitude: controlling for socio-demographic variables, attending a Catholic private school, as opposed to a public school, is predicted to reduce the probability of adult poverty by 5.7 percentage points, holding all other variables in the model constant at the respective sample mean. F...
This paper adopts identity as a central concept and demonstrates how the institutional and the ec... more This paper adopts identity as a central concept and demonstrates how the institutional and the economic environments in which we exist forge our identities and, in turn, our behavior. I argue that, not just our own identity, but also the identity of the individuals we interact with shapes behavior. Exploiting the design of a public goods game, the objective of this study is to investigate how Pakistani university students from distinct education streams behave. The following questions are explored: (1) Does coopera- tive behaviour differ across identity groups and class lines, (2) Does the propensity to punish vary across gender and class, and (3) Does the behaviour vary within gender and social identity groups, where it is the college/university that forms the social identity group under investigation. The experiment aims to capture both the tendency to cooperate among different identity groups and also the tendency to punish. While the existing experimental literature in the Pakistani context has focused on measuring trust, the tendency to cooperate and to punish has not been investigated. Moreover, the student sample includes both male and female madrassa students, so the study is better able to explore both the social and gender dimensions of cooperative and penalizing behavior. I consider three types of universities which form three identity groups in the context of the Pakistani educa- tional landscape: Elite English-medium universities with a liberal arts curriculum, public and private sector universi- ties which cater to middle and lower middle-income students, and madrassas. These groups are further sliced across gender lines. Students from each of these three groups differ not only in terms of their socio-economic background, but also in terms of the language of instruction, the religious content of their curriculum, and even their exposure to print and electronic media. To better understand these differences, the experiment is accompanied with a detailed questionnaire that asks the students about their educational, social, and religious experience. The experimental results help us break down existing stereotypes by showing that both male and female madrassa students are the most generous. Female madrassa students also punish the least. Moreover, I find more gender and social consciousness in men than women when deciding to penalize or not. Male madrassa students pe- nalize female students more than other male students, while elite male students penalize female students less than male students in the other two identity groups, suggesting hostility towards women diminishes in higher income groups. With respect to male elite students, I observe them penalizing madrassa students more heavily than fellow elite students. This suggests the presence of spite among the elite boys towards high contributors.
In estimating trade elasticities for Pakistan, most previous researchers have employed non-statio... more In estimating trade elasticities for Pakistan, most previous researchers have employed non-stationary data and OLS or 2SLS techniques. In this paper we use Johansen's cointegration methodology to re-investigate the long-run trade elasticities and existence of the Marshall-Lerner ...
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system ... more All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwisewithout prior permission of the author(s) and or the Pakistan Institute of ...
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this research report are those of the author and do not necess... more DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this research report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Social Policy and Development Centre. Research Reports describe research in progress by the author and are published to elicit comments and to ...
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Papers by Zehra Aftab
Exploiting the design of a public goods game, the objective of this study is to investigate how Pakistani university students from distinct education streams behave. The following questions are explored: (1) Does coopera- tive behaviour differ across identity groups and class lines, (2) Does the propensity to punish vary across gender and class, and (3) Does the behaviour vary within gender and social identity groups, where it is the college/university that forms the social identity group under investigation. The experiment aims to capture both the tendency to cooperate among different identity groups and also the tendency to punish. While the existing experimental literature in the Pakistani context has focused on measuring trust, the tendency to cooperate and to punish has not been investigated. Moreover, the student sample includes both male and female madrassa students, so the study is better able to explore both the social and gender dimensions of cooperative and penalizing behavior.
I consider three types of universities which form three identity groups in the context of the Pakistani educa- tional landscape: Elite English-medium universities with a liberal arts curriculum, public and private sector universi- ties which cater to middle and lower middle-income students, and madrassas. These groups are further sliced across gender lines. Students from each of these three groups differ not only in terms of their socio-economic background, but also in terms of the language of instruction, the religious content of their curriculum, and even their exposure to print and electronic media. To better understand these differences, the experiment is accompanied with a detailed questionnaire that asks the students about their educational, social, and religious experience.
The experimental results help us break down existing stereotypes by showing that both male and female madrassa students are the most generous. Female madrassa students also punish the least. Moreover, I find more gender and social consciousness in men than women when deciding to penalize or not. Male madrassa students pe- nalize female students more than other male students, while elite male students penalize female students less than male students in the other two identity groups, suggesting hostility towards women diminishes in higher income groups. With respect to male elite students, I observe them penalizing madrassa students more heavily than fellow elite students. This suggests the presence of spite among the elite boys towards high contributors.
Exploiting the design of a public goods game, the objective of this study is to investigate how Pakistani university students from distinct education streams behave. The following questions are explored: (1) Does coopera- tive behaviour differ across identity groups and class lines, (2) Does the propensity to punish vary across gender and class, and (3) Does the behaviour vary within gender and social identity groups, where it is the college/university that forms the social identity group under investigation. The experiment aims to capture both the tendency to cooperate among different identity groups and also the tendency to punish. While the existing experimental literature in the Pakistani context has focused on measuring trust, the tendency to cooperate and to punish has not been investigated. Moreover, the student sample includes both male and female madrassa students, so the study is better able to explore both the social and gender dimensions of cooperative and penalizing behavior.
I consider three types of universities which form three identity groups in the context of the Pakistani educa- tional landscape: Elite English-medium universities with a liberal arts curriculum, public and private sector universi- ties which cater to middle and lower middle-income students, and madrassas. These groups are further sliced across gender lines. Students from each of these three groups differ not only in terms of their socio-economic background, but also in terms of the language of instruction, the religious content of their curriculum, and even their exposure to print and electronic media. To better understand these differences, the experiment is accompanied with a detailed questionnaire that asks the students about their educational, social, and religious experience.
The experimental results help us break down existing stereotypes by showing that both male and female madrassa students are the most generous. Female madrassa students also punish the least. Moreover, I find more gender and social consciousness in men than women when deciding to penalize or not. Male madrassa students pe- nalize female students more than other male students, while elite male students penalize female students less than male students in the other two identity groups, suggesting hostility towards women diminishes in higher income groups. With respect to male elite students, I observe them penalizing madrassa students more heavily than fellow elite students. This suggests the presence of spite among the elite boys towards high contributors.