Provinces or Autonomous Cities without PAS
Cities create growth because they create conditions for innovation, human achievement and creative enterprise; provinces, by themselves, do not.
Nadeem’s Substack
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Reading the Economy: July 24–31
As always stenographic journalism uniformed by domestic research and prevailing thought. such journalism creates no narrative and allows excessive weight to officialdom and foreign consultants.
Building a 21st century economy
For too long, Pakistan has pursued development through planning, patronage and projects. The emerging global economy is increasingly networks of knowledge, experimentation and entrepreneurship.
Pakistan Needs a Regulatory Decapitation
The objective is not an absence of regulation but intelligent regulation.Regulation must evidence-based rather than authority-based, and until every rule must be required to show its purpose.
Banks Are Not Financial Markets
A modern financial system is not a banking monopoly with a few decorative capital-market institutions around it. It is an ecosystem
Thoughtless Medieval Taxation
The objective is not to build a productive tax system but to collect more money, regardless of the economic cost.
Reading the Economy: A Weekly Review of Economic Journalism and Commentary Friday, July 10 – Friday, July 17, 2026
Every week this column finds the same two diseases. The news pages practise stenography: officials speak, reporters transcribe. The opinion pages write in silos. What is the economic narrative?
Weekly Economics Newspaper Review: Friday, July 3–Friday, July 10, 2026
The press reported another week of forecasts, targets and “reforms”; only occasionally did it investigate the institutions producing them or the research understanding and analyzing them.
Keep Colonial State intact: do Donor Work through Companies
Karandaaz, Raast, the FBR, and the quiet outsourcing of the Pakistani state Karandaaz is not a small NGO. It is a parallel institution — and, increasingly, a parallel state.
Freelancing Is Not a Jobs Policy
Freelancing is an opportunity for a few! It is certainly not a substitute for universities, firms or a serious jobs policy.