Pakistan's core Economic Challenges - Atif Mian - Leading Economist - #TPE 204

The Pakistan Experience

One of the world's leading Economists, Atif Mian, comes on The Pakistan Experience for a masterclass on Pakistan's economic problems. On this deep dive podcast, we discuss inequality, real estate, economic indicators, incompetence of our leaders, circular debt, CPEC, IMF and the political economy. How bad is our economy? What are Pakistan's core economic problems? Why Pakistan focuses on unproductive sectors? Find out this and more on this week's episode of The Pakistan Experience. Atif Rehman Mian is a Pakistani-American economist who serves as the John H. Laporte Jr. Class of 1967 Professor of Economics, Public Policy, and Finance at Princeton University, and as the Director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2021, and was elected Fellow of the Econometric Society in 2021. His work focuses on the connections between finance and the macro economy. He is the first person of Pakistani origin to rank among the top 25 young economists of the world. In 2014, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified Atif as one of twenty-five young economists who it expects will shape the world's thinking about the global economy in the future. Atif Mian reflects on whether IMF, the Pakistani Economy and our failures to fix it. Just how bad is the Pakistani Economy? The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperience And Please stay in touch: https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1 https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperience https://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperience The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/ Twitter.com/shehzad89 Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:30 Core Challenges of the Pakistani Economy 11:00 Speculation in the Economy 14:00 How do we move towards investing in Productive Assets 17:00 The Elite and their Incentives 23:30 Civilian Governments not having the courage 29:00 Political Instability 34:00 Daronomics and Fixed Exchange Rate 37:00 Industrial Policy and Export Prioritization 43:00 CPEC 50:20 IMF 56:00 Remittances and How bad is our Economy? 1:05:20 Extreme Inequality 1:07:30 Twin Deficits 1:10:00 Savings Rate and Investment Rate 1:14:15 Productive Sectors ripe for Public Investment 1:16:30 Advice to young Economists 1:21:00 Atif Mian and Macro Finance 1:25:45 What Economists should ask? 1:27:45 Class Mobility 1:31:00 Tax Base and Amnesty Schemes 1:33:50 State led Development model for Asian Countries and Privatization 1:38:45 Lessons from India 1:41:40 Path to Sustainable Recovery 1:44:00 Pakistan's consumption should fall and political incompetency 1:52:20 Economic Charter 1:55:20 Book Recommendation and closing