I study the impact of the spatial structure of cities, quality of public services, and forced displacement on economic and social outcomes, particularly gender equality.My research interests include: - Modeling urban form and function - Economic impacts of urban public transit - Gender and access to mobility - Forced displacement and cities - Job training programs and labor policy - Public policy analysisI am the Director of Research at Evidence for Policy Design, Harvard Kennedy School, Affiliate at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard's Belfer Center, Non-Resident Fellow at the Urban Institute and Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Research in Pakistan.My Google Scholar profile is available here.Email me: ammar_malik@hks.harvard.edu or ammar.anees@gmail.com.Follow me on Twitter: @MalikAmmarConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malikammar/
Cities across Asia are emerging as increasingly productive spaces driving economic growth and ena... more Cities across Asia are emerging as increasingly productive spaces driving economic growth and enabling social transformation. As their sizes and numbers grow, urban local governments’ ability to consistently deliver widely accessible and efficiently functioning public services is key to sustaining this momentum of positive change. Better understanding the institutional constraints facing cities in doing so is therefore critical. We design and apply an assessment framework to 18 cities across 6 countries in South and Southeast Asia to better understand the functional, administrative, and political dimensions determining the quality and coverage of water, sanitation, and solid waste management services. We find that urban local governments across Asia are constrained in their authority and discretion to deliver basic public services. Reforming intergovernmental institutional structures to better match responsibilities is essential for realizing cities’ full economic potential and meet targets set in the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda.
Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development
Reaching the sustainable development goal for water and sanitation access will require significan... more Reaching the sustainable development goal for water and sanitation access will require significant investments. For some utilities, the private sector or blended public–private investments offer opportunities to expand and improve services, but this is not an option for many utilities serving the poorest households. These utilities are often unable to cover their current operations and maintenance costs and have limited capacity to increase tariffs in order to do so. Yet supporting these utilities is crucial to expanding access to safe drinking water for the majority of citizens. We argue that a new solution is needed to provide utilities serving the poorest with sufficient subsidies to cover their operational costs, stabilize service, and make performance improvements to advance towards sustainable operation. This article presents a potential solution which blends funding from global philanthropy, solidarity levies, and local matching funds. Such a fund, if structured to reflect th...
In all successful modern economies, cities are the engines of growth and melting pots of diversel... more In all successful modern economies, cities are the engines of growth and melting pots of diversely talented individuals. They offer inclusive environments with openness and access to opportunities, thus becoming the bedrocks of prosperity. On the contrary, many rapidly expanding cities in developing countries are marred poor public service delivery, traffic congestion and perverse spatial urban forms. In particular, unless the transportation infrastructure shortages are overcome through public investment, the well-documented economic benefits of agglomeration will continue to diminish. Notwithstanding the lack of resources available to governments in developing countries, this paper utilizes the case of Lahore, Pakistan to explore practical policy options for financing urban transportation infrastructure. After analyzing the much-hyped options of Public Private Partnerships and Municipal Finance initiatives, the paper concludes the following: First, governments must consider revamping urban land-use (zoning) regulations to create market-based solutions to the infrastructure challenge. Second, it is imperative that the underlying issues of poor governance and rent-seeking be addressed before any reforms can be fully implemented. Moreover, by gaining inspiration from urban economics and infrastructure finance literature, this paper enhances our understanding of policy dimensions of urban management in developing countries.
This paper analyzes Houston Metropolitan Region's economic performance during the great reces... more This paper analyzes Houston Metropolitan Region's economic performance during the great recession from a regional economic and public policy perspective. Using labor and economic output data in shift-share analysis, our analysis focuses on sub-regional and sectoral components of this region’s much discussed success story. Through a series of questions relating to both pre- and post-recession time periods, the paper explores recent changes to the region's economic structure from a socioeconomic perspective. The paper derives policy lessons for other metropolitan regions around the country, in particular those that face similar sets of challenges as Houston.
In countries around the world, local governments and other local public sector bodies are respons... more In countries around the world, local governments and other local public sector bodies are responsible for delivering the public services that people rely on day-to-day: schools for their children, public health services, access to clean water, clean streets, sanitation for the urban poor, and so on. Although these public services align with national priorities and global development objectives, the delivery of these public services are fundamentally local in nature. The importance of local governments is especially relevant in an increasingly urbanizing world, with more than half of the world’s population now living in urban areas. While there is widespread agreement that effective urban local governments (ULGs) play a critical role in achieving sustainable economic growth, stronger public services, and inclusive governance, the role that ULGs play—whether as a catalyst for economic development or as a provider of public services—is often poorly understood. The Assessment Framework ...
Torture is perhaps best understood as a collection of practices designed to inflict suffering upo... more Torture is perhaps best understood as a collection of practices designed to inflict suffering upon helpless subjects. It can include both physical and psychological pain, and, while torture has been conducted by private actors, our concern here is regarding torture authorized and carried out by governments. We examined two broad theories that have been put forth to explain public support for torture. First, torture has been understood as a practice that advanced societies should reject (whether they actually do so is another question), and thus part of the collection of post-materialistic values that characterize public attitudes in advanced liberal democracies. We label this explanation the “developmental hypothesis” of support for torture. Second, scholars such as Karen Greenberg and Stephen Holmes have posited that societies are driven to support torture when terrorism threatens them. In this study, we call this the “threat hypothesis” of support for torture.
Cities across Asia are emerging as increasingly productive spaces driving economic growth and ena... more Cities across Asia are emerging as increasingly productive spaces driving economic growth and enabling social transformation. As their sizes and numbers grow, urban local governments’ ability to consistently deliver widely accessible and efficiently functioning public services is key to sustaining this momentum of positive change. Better understanding the institutional constraints facing cities in doing so is therefore critical. We design and apply an assessment framework to 18 cities across 6 countries in South and Southeast Asia to better understand the functional, administrative, and political dimensions determining the quality and coverage of water, sanitation, and solid waste management services. We find that urban local governments across Asia are constrained in their authority and discretion to deliver basic public services. Reforming intergovernmental institutional structures to better match responsibilities is essential for realizing cities’ full economic potential and meet targets set in the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda.
Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development
Reaching the sustainable development goal for water and sanitation access will require significan... more Reaching the sustainable development goal for water and sanitation access will require significant investments. For some utilities, the private sector or blended public–private investments offer opportunities to expand and improve services, but this is not an option for many utilities serving the poorest households. These utilities are often unable to cover their current operations and maintenance costs and have limited capacity to increase tariffs in order to do so. Yet supporting these utilities is crucial to expanding access to safe drinking water for the majority of citizens. We argue that a new solution is needed to provide utilities serving the poorest with sufficient subsidies to cover their operational costs, stabilize service, and make performance improvements to advance towards sustainable operation. This article presents a potential solution which blends funding from global philanthropy, solidarity levies, and local matching funds. Such a fund, if structured to reflect th...
In all successful modern economies, cities are the engines of growth and melting pots of diversel... more In all successful modern economies, cities are the engines of growth and melting pots of diversely talented individuals. They offer inclusive environments with openness and access to opportunities, thus becoming the bedrocks of prosperity. On the contrary, many rapidly expanding cities in developing countries are marred poor public service delivery, traffic congestion and perverse spatial urban forms. In particular, unless the transportation infrastructure shortages are overcome through public investment, the well-documented economic benefits of agglomeration will continue to diminish. Notwithstanding the lack of resources available to governments in developing countries, this paper utilizes the case of Lahore, Pakistan to explore practical policy options for financing urban transportation infrastructure. After analyzing the much-hyped options of Public Private Partnerships and Municipal Finance initiatives, the paper concludes the following: First, governments must consider revamping urban land-use (zoning) regulations to create market-based solutions to the infrastructure challenge. Second, it is imperative that the underlying issues of poor governance and rent-seeking be addressed before any reforms can be fully implemented. Moreover, by gaining inspiration from urban economics and infrastructure finance literature, this paper enhances our understanding of policy dimensions of urban management in developing countries.
This paper analyzes Houston Metropolitan Region's economic performance during the great reces... more This paper analyzes Houston Metropolitan Region's economic performance during the great recession from a regional economic and public policy perspective. Using labor and economic output data in shift-share analysis, our analysis focuses on sub-regional and sectoral components of this region’s much discussed success story. Through a series of questions relating to both pre- and post-recession time periods, the paper explores recent changes to the region's economic structure from a socioeconomic perspective. The paper derives policy lessons for other metropolitan regions around the country, in particular those that face similar sets of challenges as Houston.
In countries around the world, local governments and other local public sector bodies are respons... more In countries around the world, local governments and other local public sector bodies are responsible for delivering the public services that people rely on day-to-day: schools for their children, public health services, access to clean water, clean streets, sanitation for the urban poor, and so on. Although these public services align with national priorities and global development objectives, the delivery of these public services are fundamentally local in nature. The importance of local governments is especially relevant in an increasingly urbanizing world, with more than half of the world’s population now living in urban areas. While there is widespread agreement that effective urban local governments (ULGs) play a critical role in achieving sustainable economic growth, stronger public services, and inclusive governance, the role that ULGs play—whether as a catalyst for economic development or as a provider of public services—is often poorly understood. The Assessment Framework ...
Torture is perhaps best understood as a collection of practices designed to inflict suffering upo... more Torture is perhaps best understood as a collection of practices designed to inflict suffering upon helpless subjects. It can include both physical and psychological pain, and, while torture has been conducted by private actors, our concern here is regarding torture authorized and carried out by governments. We examined two broad theories that have been put forth to explain public support for torture. First, torture has been understood as a practice that advanced societies should reject (whether they actually do so is another question), and thus part of the collection of post-materialistic values that characterize public attitudes in advanced liberal democracies. We label this explanation the “developmental hypothesis” of support for torture. Second, scholars such as Karen Greenberg and Stephen Holmes have posited that societies are driven to support torture when terrorism threatens them. In this study, we call this the “threat hypothesis” of support for torture.
Over the last two decades, China has provided record amounts of international development finance... more Over the last two decades, China has provided record amounts of international development finance and established itself as a financier of first resort for many low-and middle-income countries (LMICs); however, its grant-giving and lending activities remain shrouded in secrecy. Our paper introduces a uniquely comprehensive and granular dataset of international development finance from China. It captures 13,427 projects worth $843 billion across 165 countries in every major world region over an 18-year period. Five key insights emerge from the dataset. First, we document an extraordinary expansion in China's overseas development finance program during the first two decades of the 21st century. With annual international development finance commitments hovering around $85 billion a year, China now outspends the U.S. and other major powers on a 2-to-1 basis or more. It is doing so with semi-concessional and nonconcessional debt rather than aid: since the introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has maintained a 31-to-1 ratio of loans to grants and a 9-to-1 ratio of OOF to ODA. Second, China's state-owned commercial banks have assumed an increasingly important role during the BRI era by organizing lending syndicates and other co-financing arrangements that make it possible to undertake bigger-ticket infrastructure projects. The number of "mega-projects"-financed with loans worth $500 million or more-being approved each year tripled during the first five years of BRI implementation. Third, increasing levels of credit risk have created pressure for stronger repayment safeguards. Chief among these safeguards is collateralization, which has become the linchpin of China's implementation of a high-risk, high-reward credit allocation strategy. In the interest of securing energy and natural resources that it lacks in sufficient quantities at home and maximizing investment returns on surplus dollars and euros, China has rapidly scaled up the provision of foreign currency-denominated loans to resource-rich countries that suffer from high levels of corruption. These loans are collateralized against future commodity export receipts to minimize repayment and fiduciary risk and priced at relatively high interest rates (nearly 6%). Fourth, although the implementation of the BRI has not prompted any major changes to the sectoral or geographical composition of the country's overseas development finance program, it has marked an important transition in how China bankrolls infrastructure projects. The majority of its overseas lending was directed to sovereign borrowers (i.e., central government institutions) during the pre-BRI era, but nearly 70% is now directed to state-owned companies, state-owned banks, special purpose vehicles, joint ventures, and private sector institutions. These debts, for the most part, do not appear on government balance sheets in LMICs. However, most of them benefit from explicit or implicit forms of host government liability protection, which has blurred the distinction between private and public debt and introduced major public financial management challenges for LMICs. We find that Chinese debt burdens are substantially larger than research institutions, credit rating agencies, or intergovernmental organizations with surveillance responsibilities previously understood: 42 LMICs now have levels of debt exposure to China in excess of 10% of GDP. These debts are systematically underreported to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS) because, in many cases, central government institutions in LMICs are not the primary borrowers responsible for repayment. We estimate that the average LMIC government is underreporting its actual and potential repayment obligations to China by an amount that is equivalent to 5.8% of its GDP. Collectively, these underreported debts are worth approximately $385 billion. Fifth, we find that 35% of the BRI infrastructure project portfolio has encountered major implementation problems-such as corruption scandals, labor violations, environmental hazards, and public protests-but the Chinese government's infrastructure project portfolio outside of the BRI has encountered fewer implementation problems. We also find that BRI infrastructure projects are less likely to face problems during implementation when they are undertaken by host country organizations (or organizations that are neither from China nor host countries).
Scholars and urban planners have suggested that the key characteristic of leading world cities is... more Scholars and urban planners have suggested that the key characteristic of leading world cities is that they attract the best and brightest minds. As home to the creative classes, which consist of professionals working in knowledge-based industries, they are the bedrocks of prosperity and drivers of innovation. They not only provide unrivaled educational and professional opportunities, but also the best entertainment facilities such as art galleries, theaters and restaurants. Both through hard and soft infrastructure, residents of these cities enjoy seamless connectivity which fosters human creativity. When combined with population density, socio-economic diversity and societal tolerance, the elevated interaction intensity diffuses creativity and boosts economic productivity. However, rapidly urbanizing cities in the developing world are struggling to maintain adequate service delivery standards. The form and function of many cities are increasingly marred by congestion, sprawl and socioeconomic segregation, preventing them from experiencing expected productivity gains associated with urbanization. We operationalize these insights by creating a stylized agent-based model of a theoretical city, inspired by social complexity theory and the new urban literature. A virtual environment is designed where heterogeneous and independent decision-making agents interact under various policy scenarios, such as greater urban transportation investments and altered land-use regulations. By creating typical urban conditions, we conclude that the combination of mixed land-use, improved access to urban mobility and high societal tolerance levels foster creativity led urban economic growth.
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