1. Local Government Reform
Currently the Government of Punjab is working on reforming the Local Government system, which will focus on: efficient methods of service delivery to ordinary citizens; effective local government regulation; fiscal and revenue arrangements and a governing framework that strengthens electoral, financial and managerial accountability. The reform process encapsulates all tiers of local government i.e. district, municipal and local. In this regard, the Government of Punjab has requested a background paper from IGC Pakistan, which identifies the distortions in the existing governance framework. IGC Pakistan is also providing direct technical support to the reform agenda.
2. Skills, return to household and poverty reduction
The Government of Punjab in collaboration with DFID is about to launch a large-scale project of skills development in Punjab's high poverty districts. The programme is called Punjab Economic Opportunities Programme (PEOP). The 2 Lead Academics of IGC (Pakistan) worked in collaboration with the Technical Assistance and Management Committee (TAMA) of DFID and Planning & Development Department of Punjab to generate a base-line report that provided base-line indicators amd critical evidence in the design of the PEOP. The report has been accepted as the official base-line report both by DFID and Planning & Development
3. Chapter on Industrial Policy on the 10th 5 Year Plan
Rapid, broad based industrial growth is central to the 10th Plan objective of improving the trade balance and generating productive jobs. Meeting these objectives during the ongoing macro-economic stabilization efforts and weak external demand due to the global recession will be challenging. This plan will take a policy strategic approach to address key structural weaknesses that have resulted in a stagnant share of industry in the economy and of manufactured goods in overall exports. The focus will be on strengthening the policy framework that affects the incentive regime faced by industry and thus improve firm productivity and international competitiveness and attract higher investment.
Medium-term research:
Three research proposals have been accepted by the hub. Their details are as follows:
1.Property Tax Experiment in Punjab, Pakistan: Testing the role of wages, incentives and audit on tax inspectors’ behaviour
This project seeks to investigate the role that wages and incentives for tax collectors can play in reducing tax evasion and increasing tax collection. Working with the government of the province of Punjab, the researchers will conduct a randomized, controlled field experiment among property tax collectors whereby different tax inspectors will be randomly assigned to different wage and incentive regimes. This high degree of cooperation between researchers and policy makers presents a rare opportunity to conduct what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first such randomized experiment on incentives for tax inspectors in any country.
2. Information and voting behaviour in local elections in Pakistan
Voter education campaigns are a key method to empower citizens in a democracy to demand more effective leadership and provision of public services, but the effectiveness of voter education campaigns currently being implemented in Pakistan is unclear. Voters’ lack of information on government responsibilities and actual performance is a likely explanation for why citizens receive low-quality public services in Pakistan even when the poor constitute a very large voting bloc.
This project coincides with the current government reform agenda, an important part of which is electoral and political reform of local government. The researchers anticipate that this evaluation will help spur electoral and political reforms that empower voters and strengthen laws for the public disclosure of information, strengthening the foundations of local democracy in Pakistan.
3. Political Conflict in Pakistan – Understanding Subnational Patterns
Since January 2009, more than 2,000 Pakistani civilians have been killed and at least 5,000 more have been injured due to conflicts between political organizations. No consistent data exists on such conflicts on which one could test common contentions about where conflict happens, let alone arguments about how to best deal with it. The researchers foresee this data influencing debates about pressing security problems and vastly improving the quality of analysis conducted by Pakistanis about the challenges political conflict poses to their country.
