TOTAL RESEARCH OUTPUT OF THE LAHORE SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS (ACTUAL 2023 & ON-GOING 2024)
Actual 2023 (Author/s, Title of Publication, Journal, Year)

HEC W Category/Impact Factor Journal Articles
1.    Afzal, A., Firdousi, S.F. & Mahmood, K. The links between financial depth and economic variables: evidence from Poland, The Journal of Risk Finance, 2023 (Impact Factor)
2.    Afzal, A., Hasnaoui, J., Noor, R., & Banerjee, A. Is saving the non-renewable resources worthwhile? Evidence of paradox of plenty on human capital development, Resources Policy, 2023 (Impact Factor)
3.    Afzal, A., Mirza, N., & Firdousi, S. F. Do depositors discipline the banking sector? Evidence from an emerging economy, Review of Accounting and Finance, 2023 (Impact Factor)
4.    Ahmed, H., Jallat, H., Hussain, E., Saqib, E.N, Saqib, Z., Khokhar, M.F., & Khan, W.R (2023). Quantitative Assessment of Deforestation and Degradation and its Causes in Himalayan National Park MHNP: Employing Landsat Data and Socio-Economic Survey. Forests, (14)2), 201. https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020201 (Impact Factor)
5.    Amir, H., Tamime, R., Shamair, Z., Khan, A. L., AlMohamadi, H., & Nawaz, R. (2023). Enhanced gas separation performance of PIM-1 blend membranes incorporating ionic liquid (3-(trimethoxysilyl) propan-1-aminium acetate ([APTMS][Ac])) as filler: Investigation of morphology, compatibility and transport properties. Fuel, 349, 128669. (Impact Factor)
6.    Arif, R., Chaudhry, T. “Heterogeneous Effects of Emigration on Labor Market Activity and Investment Decisions in Punjab, Pakistan,” Advances in Life Course Research, Vol. 56 (June), 2023, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2023.100547 (Impact Factor)
7.    Arif, R., Chaudhry, T., & Chaudhry, A. (2023). “Emigration’s Heterogeneous Impact on Children’s Wellbeing in Punjab, Pakistan.” Child Indicators Research, 1-45 (Impact Factor)
8.    Arif, R, Chaudhry A, Chaudhry T (2023) Empowered mothers and co-resident grandmothers: Two fundamental roles of women impacting child health outcomes in Punjab,    Pakistan.    PLOS    ONE    18(11): e0285995. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285995 (Impact Factor)
9.    Arifeen, S. R., & Mughal, F. (2023). Can improvisation be paradoxical? Learner positionality   and   the   improvised   digital   disruption. Management Learning, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076231197908 (Impact Factor)
10.    Asharaf, N, Wadho, W, & Shahid, S. (2023). Faultlines in Family SMEs: The U-shape effect of family influence and control on innovativeness and performance. M@n@gement. Vol. 26 (3). (Impact Factor)
11.    Ashraf, I., Ahmad, S. R., Ashraf, U., & Khan, M. (2023). Community perspectives to improve flood management and socio-economic impacts of floods at Central Indus River, Pakistan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 92, 103718. (Impact Factor)
12.    Ashraf, U., Peterson, A. T., Chaudhry, M. N., & Cobos, M. E. Global ecological niche conservatism and evolution in Olea species. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, 30(1), 103500. (HEC W Category)
13.    Awais, M., Afzal, A., Firdousi, S.F., & Hasnaoui, A. Is fintech the new path to sustainable resource utilisation and economic development? Resources Policy, 2023 (Impact Factor)
14.    Beg, I., Bisht, M. and Rawat. S.: Ranking approach for generalized intuitionistic fuzzy numbers and its application in transportation problems, Computational and Applied Math., 42(2023), Article 329 (HEC W Category)
15.    Beg, I., M. Abbas and M.W. Asghar: Approximation of the solution of split equality fixed point problem for family of multivalued demicontractive operators with application, Σ−Mathematics, 11 (2023) Id. 959 (HEC W Category)
16.    Chaudhry, T. & R. Arif, “The Impact of Consanguineous Marriage on Children's Human Capital in Pakistan,” Journal of South Asian Development, November 2023, https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741231200380. (Impact Factor)
17.    Firdousi, S.F., Afzal, A., & Amir, B. Nexus between FinTech, renewable energy resource consumption, and carbon emissions, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2023 (Impact Factor)
18.    Gu, X., Firdousi, S.F., Obrenovic, B., Afzal, A., Amir, B., & Wu, T. The influence of green finance availability to retailers on purchase intention: a consumer perspective with the moderating role of consciousness, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2023 (Impact Factor)
19.    Hasan, A., Anwar, W., Zahir-ul-Hassan, M.K. and Ahmed, A. (2023). Corporate governance and tax avoidance: Evidence from an emerging market. Applied Economics. (Impact Factor)
20.    Hasan, A., Riaz, Z. and Nakpodia, F. (2023), "Explicating the contextuality of corporate governance through ownership structure and family management: evidence from an emerging economy", Corporate Governance, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 1085-1104. https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-08-2022-0332 (Impact Factor)
21.    Hasan, A., Sheikh, N., & Farooq, M. B. (2023). Exploring stakeholder perceptions of tax reform failures and their proposed solutions: a developing country perspective. Meditari Accountancy Research. (Impact Factor)
22.    Hasan, A., Sufi, U. and Hussainey, K. (2023). Risk Committee Characteristics and Risk Disclosure in Banks: Evidence from an Emerging Economy. Journal of Applied Accounting Research. (Impact Factor)
23.    Hasan, A., Riaz, Z. and Nakpodia, F. (2023). Explicating the contextuality of corporate governance through ownership structure and family management: evidence from an emerging economy. Corporate Governance. (Impact Factor)
24.    Iuga, I. C., Rabab Mudakkar, S., & Dragolea, L. L. (2023). Time of COVID-19: stability analysis of stocks, exchange rates, minerals and metals markets. Economic research- Ekonomska istraživanja, 36(1), 1527-1548. (HEC W Category)
25.    Jamil, N., Chaudhry, T., and A. Chaudhry, “Adjustments in markups after a Free Trade Agreement: An analysis of Pakistani firms gaining increased access to China,” Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, June 2023, https://doi.org/10.1080/09638199.2023.2222419. (Impact Factor)
26.    Javaid, U. "The Star of CPEC-Analyzing the hurdles to Gwadar’s Development." Al- Qanṭara 9.4 (2023). (HEC Impact Factor)

27.    Khalid, A., Chaudhry, H. and Beg, I.: Dissilient interpersonal influences in social network analysis, Fuzzy Sets Systems, 46(7) (2023), Article 108499. (HEC W Category)
28.    Khan, M., Chaudhry, M. N., Anwar, M., Ashraf, U., & Ali, H. Effect of Lockdown on the Air Quality of Four Major Cities in Pakistan During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Environmental Health, 85(6), 2023. (Impact Factor)
29.    Khan, S. N., & Riaz, Z., (2023) Exploring the Relevance of Organizational Learning for CSR Strategy Implementation: Empirical Evidence from a Developing Economy. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Impact factor: 1.3 (Impact Factor)
30.    Liu, K., Afzal, A., Zhong, Y., Hasnaoui, A., Yue, X.G. Investigating the resource curse: Evidence from MENA and N-11 countries, Resources Policy, 2023 (Impact Factor)
31.    Mirza, N., Afzal, A., Umar, M., & Skare, M., The impact of green lending on banking performance: Evidence from SME credit portfolios in the BRIC, Economic Analysis and Policy, 2023 (Impact Factor)
32.    Mirza, N., Umar, M., Afzal, A., Firdousi, S.F. The role of fintech in promoting green finance, and profitability: Evidence from the banking sector in the euro zone, Economic Analysis and Policy, 2023 (Impact Factor)
33.    Mudakkar, S. R., & Uppal, J. Y. (2023). Identifying Winning Strategies for MFIs by Constructing Structured Mashup Indices. Global Business Review, 09721509221134256. (HEC W Category)
34.    Naz, R., and Mariano, T., "Symmetry methods for a hyperbolic model for a class of populations." Applied Mathematics and Computation 439 (2023): 127640. (HEC W Category)
35.    Naz, R., and Mariano, T., "The first integrals and closed‐form solutions of a Susceptible Exposed‐Infectious epidemic model." Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences 46, no. 4 (2023): 4352-4362. (HEC W Category)
36.    Nisar, S. News Framing and Discourse Analysis of Aurat March of the Editorials in Pakistan’s English Language Newspaper, Journal of Communication and Media Studies (HEC W Category/Impact Factor Journal Article)
37.    Noor, Q., Rashid, T.and Beg, I.: Multi-attribute group decision making based on probabilistic dual hesitant fuzzy Maclaurin symmetric mean operators, Granular Computing 8(2023), 633-666. (HEC W Category)
38.    Siddique, S., Chaudhry, M. N., Ahmad, S. R., Javed, R., Nazir, R., Mubarak, S., ... & Mahmood, A. Comprehensive GIS based risk surveillance of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in edible fish species of River Chenab, Pakistan. Science of The Total Environment, 871, 162084, 2023. (HEC W Category)
39.    Siddique, S., Chaudhry, M. N., Ahmad, S. R., Nazir, R., Zhao, Z., Javed, R., & Mahmood, A. Ecological and human health hazards; integrated risk assessment of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) from the Chenab River, Pakistan. Science of The Total Environment, 882, 163504, 2023. (HEC W Category)
40.    Talat, A., Khan, S. N., Chaudary, S., & Neale, N. R. Investigating ICT for team creativity: A team sensemaking perspective. IIMB Management Review 2023 35(1) Impact factor: 1.7 (Impact Factor)
41.    Tirmazee, Z. S. (2023). Unequal pay for equal education! A case of gender wage gap from Punjab, Pakistan. Argumenta Oeconomica, 1(50), 67-94. (Impact Factor)

42.    Wadho, W, and Sadia, H. (2023). "Ethnic diversity, concentration of political power and the curse of natural resources." Economia Politica 40.1: 113-137. (Impact Factor)
 

Department of Economics
Research Program

Research Objectives:
1. To produce cutting edge research in the area of economics and other related fields which utilizes advanced theories, principles and analytical techniques to address key issues in economics, business, and public policy.
2. To collect and analyze primary and secondary data from Pakistani and international sources in order to support the research objectives of the students and faculty and share with local and international academics, researchers, policy makers, businesses and other stakeholders.
3. To support local and international collaboration between researchers, academics, policy makers, the business community and other stakeholders in order to produce research that is relevant, timely, and impactful.
4. To publish research articles in leading national and international academic journals in order to disseminate the findings of the research to a larger community.
5. To publish the findings of the research produced in a broad variety of media, such as books, working papers, newspapers, blogs, and social media in order to increase the accessibility and impact of the research being conducted.

Research Program 2024-25:
The research program of the Faculty of Economics is divided into three components:
1. Research and publications of the faculty as a result of ongoing projects (listed below).
2. Research and publications of the faculty as a result of local and international collaborations (listed below).
3. Publication of books, working papers, newspaper articles, blog posts, etc. based on completed research.
4. Research and publications from PhD and MPhil/MS students based on their research work and theses.
5. To promote collaborations with international researchers on relevant cutting edge research (listed below)
6. To obtain International grants to fund cutting edge research (listed below)

Research Program 2024-2029:
The research program of the department is centered around a series of projects which will yield working papers, policy briefs, newspaper articles and journal articles.
The main projects of the department over the next five years are:
1. ITC, Lahore School of Economics in WTO Chairs Programme
ITC, Lahore School of Economics was the only institution from Pakistan, among seventeen other universities from least-developed and developing country members, selected as a member of the prestigious WTO’s Chairs Programme. The role of the centre, being part of the WTO Chair Programme, would be to enhance knowledge and understanding of the international trading system among academics and policy makers in the country.
The objectives of the WTO Chair at the Lahore School of the Economics are threefold: First, to further the understanding of trade related issues (including trade theory, implications of restrictions on trade, the role of international bodies like the WTO, etc.) amongst students, the business community, policy makers and other stakeholders. Second, to conduct timely, relevant, and broadly inclusive research on trade related issues which is not only of the highest academic quality but is also relevant to stakeholders. Third, to disseminate the findings of its activities (both research and stakeholder consultations) to a broader audience through an effective dissemination campaign.

Department of Business Administration
Research Program

Five-Year Research Plan 2024 to 2029

2024 Plan includes:
1. Publication of Research Articles in HEC recognized journals 41
2. Book Chapters 2
3. Working Papers 5

Expected total output 31 pieces of research – in year 2024
It is expected that similar pace of research out-put would continue in the 5-year planning period; and about 100 pieces of research related output are likely to be produced between 2024 to 2029.
Up-grading the research software is another area which would help enhance research output along with research focused semesterly faculty development activity aimed at enhancing the research related skills of the faculty members.
Teaching and Research Fellows from Business Area in the Staff of the ITC are 5. They are expected to produce at least one publication / working paper per year, totaling 25 pieces of research output in the next 5 years. The remaining 75 pieces of research output is expected to be contributed by the regular 45 faculty members in Business Administration Faculty.

Department of Social Sciences
Research Program

Research Vision

In line with the Lahore School’s Vision/Mission/Strategic Plan 2023-2028, the Social Science Department will organize and sustain an active research agenda aimed at initiating multidisciplinary research on contemporary and emerging issues in Social Sciences.

Research Mission

The Department of Social Sciences is committed to undertake cutting-edge research in a broad spectrum of contemporary issues in Social Sciences and Humanities

Research Objectives

1. Diversify the research profile of the Lahore School of Economics by making it one of Pakistan’s leading higher education institutions dealing both with the study of Social Sciences as well as with research in the fields of Social Sciences and Humanities.
2. Ensure that research standards follow international protocol and remain sensitive to the individual diversity of interest.
3. Establish and maintain research linkages with academic partners within Pakistan as well as internationally, leading to collaborative ventures such as joint publications, conferences, and research- related visits.
4. To facilitate and support international exposure by presenting at international conferences in specific areas of interest and expertise.

Department/Institute/ Centre Five Year Research Programmes 2023-2028

1. To initiate an MPhil in English Studies
2. To initiate an MPhil in Political Science

Five-Year Research Plan 2023-2028

1. Expand the faculty with suitably qualified PhD instructors with a view to introduce an MPhil program by 2024.
2. Engage with faculty from other departments within the Lahore School with a view to undertake collaborative and multi-disciplinary research.
3. Organise Annual Social Sciences Conference to disseminate research findings to the relevant stake holders.
4. Launch a journal of Social Sciences and Humanities.
5. Prepare Stage 2 of the CPEC report based on collaborative research between The Lahore School and SOAS (University of London), to be published in 2025.

Department of Environmental Sciences & Policy
Research Program

1. Research Vision developed in line with the Lahore School’s Vision/Mission/Strategic Plan 2018-2028

a. To carry out research to make Pakistan a pioneer and assist the international community in finding sustainable and equitable solutions in the field of environmental sciences

2. Research Mission developed in line with the Lahore School’s Vision/Mission/Strategic Plan 2019-2029

a. To carry out research to solve environmental problems at national and International level

3. Research Objectives

a. To conduct pure and applied research in the field of environmental sciences for advancement of science as well as for solving the problems
b. Collaborate with national and international institutions in order to create synergy

4. Department/Institute/ Centre Five Year Research programmes 2024/29 developed in line with the Lahore School’s Vision/Mission/Strategic Plan 2019-2029

a. To develop lab and acquire software relevant to the research to be carried out in the department
b. Research in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment, Membrane Technology, Evolutionary Biology and Climate Change and POPs.

Five-Year Research Plan 2024/2029

a. To carry out research in conservational biodiversity at national and international level
b. To study the impacts of climate change on threatened species of plants and animals in Pakistan and at global level
c. Disease modelling of environmental insect vectors (Dengue and Tuberculosis)
d. Techno-legal research in environmental practices and legislation

Department of Mathematics and Statistical Sciences 
Research Program

Research Vision

To be a world-class department in Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science, and multidisciplinary fields including Mathematical Economics, Quantitative Finance, and Decision Sciences for conducting cutting-edge research.

Research Mission

Our department’s research mission is to

• Create a supportive and inclusive environment to facilitate the growth of faculty as researchers and scholars
• Contribute to Lahore School’s overall research mission by actively supporting research initiatives within the business and economics disciplines.
• Undertake research endeavors addressing key economic challenges, supporting the Lahore School’s mission to contribute to the management of Pakistan’s economy.

Research Objectives

The research objectives of the Department for Mathematics and Statistical Sciences are to:

1. Conduct cutting-edge research in mathematics, statistics, data science, and interdisciplinary fields.
2. Encourage collaborations with industry stakeholders and government agencies to address real-world problems using mathematical and statistical modeling and analysis.
3. Enhance research quality and visibility through publications in top-ranked international journals and by fostering collaborations with researchers from the world's leading universities.
4. Encourage and facilitate active participation and organization of virtual/hybrid/inperson conferences, workshops, and scientific forums at national and international levels, to enhance networking and knowledge sharing.
5. Volunteer as a reviewer and editor for world-renowned journals to support the research community.
6. Develop joint research initiatives tailored to the specific needs and objectives of each existing and new joint undergraduate program in Mathematics, Statistics, Data Analytics, Finance, business, and economics.
7. Establish strategic partnerships with research institutions, community organizations, and industry stakeholders to provide students with practical and applied research opportunities.

Research Programmes

Our department has planned several new initiatives aimed at enhancing the capacity of our faculty and providing them with exposure to recent developments in mathematics, statistics, and data science, as well as the latest cutting-edge research methods. These initiatives will be implemented over the next five years and will include:

1. Virtual Seminar Series: This program aims to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration, provide a platform for networking and knowledge sharing, and reach a wider audience. The program will consist of virtual seminars on various topics related to Mathematics, Statistics, and Data Science.
2. Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration: Our faculty prioritizes interdisciplinary research endeavors and will continue to work on both ongoing and new research projects with colleagues from the faculties of economics, business, social sciences, and environmental sciences over the next five years.
3. Developing an Integrated Framework for Data Science: This initiative aims to explore software components for data management, cleaning, visualization, statistical analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence and develop an integrated framework for data science.
4. Research Capacity Building: This program aims to provide hybrid research development opportunities through virtual and physical conferences and workshops on Mathematics, Statistics, and Data Science. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with and learn from experts across the globe.
5. Industry Science Communication: This program involves communicating scientific knowledge and research findings related to the practical applications of mathematical sciences in economics and business to industry professionals. The goal is to bridge the gap between academia and industry.

Department for Media Studies, Art and Design
Research Program

Research Vision and Mission

In keeping with the vision of the university the faculty research aspires to interrogate topics of social significance and creatively experiment with interdisciplinary methodologies and use of diverse media technologies. Our mission is to foster just representation, diverse expression and creative intervention in media and art discourse in Pakistan and globally. The Media, Art and Design department aspires to help in critical analysis of prevailing media content and development of greater social capacity in creative production using traditional and new media.

Five Year Research Program

• Encourage and facilitate PhD and senior faculty to publish books based on their PhD thesis.
• Start publication of working papers of faculty research.
• Develop an MPhil in Media Studies
• Collaborative inter and intra department research to produce documentaries, exhibitions and multi-media content.

Research themes:

Post-colonial culture: Pakistani modern art, south Asian cinema, gender discourse in print media, education; medium of education, technology, culture of Northern Areas of Pakistan.
Ecologies of modernity, migration stories, green revolution, climate change, planetary urbanization.
Lahore City: Heritage and development in walled city of Lahore, cinema, television and radio, art movements and artists, music culture etc. are themes the faculty is engaged with in their ongoing research. We hope to streamline this interest into a consolidated stream of research on historical and contemporary culture of Lahore. The research aims to generate teaching resources about the cultural and artistic life of Lahore city.
Classical Music , Encyclopedic compilation of ragas of classical North Indian music and audio, video cataloguing of senior contemporary practitioners from Pakistan.

Centre for Research in Economics & Business
Research Program

Vision

To be a world class research center producing cutting edge research in Economics and disseminating ideas and solutions for sustainable and equitable development, particularly for the poor, women and other vulnerable groups.

Mission Statement

CREB’s mission is to:

• Produce high quality research with meaningful policy impact, build capabilities of its researchers, and engage with academics, practitioners and policy makers on issues of importance for economic development in Pakistan and the world.
• Contribute to Lahore School’s overall mission by supporting high quality research of its graduate programs, ensuring that its researchers meet the international ethical standards, effectively managing its Research Development Fund grants programme and ensuring that international conferences participated by faculty under its training programme meet its academic standards.

Objectives:

CREB’s objectives are to:

• • Continuously improve the quality of its research by expanding links with international researchers and encouraging publications in higher ranked academic journals by its staff.
  • Expand its portfolio of research projects funded from competitive external grants.
  • Disseminate research and promote discussion with policy makers, academics and other stakeholders on economic development issues by organizing international conferences and seminars, publishing working papers, policy papers, briefs, newspaper articles and blogs.
  • Develop skills of its staff, especially early career researchers, by mentoring and organizing training workshops, encouraging participation in external capacity-building workshops, academic conferences and seminars, as well as facilitating access to resources for research.
  • Provide a dynamic, collegial and inclusive work environment.
  • Provide timely and quality support to the Lahore School for:
    •   i. Maintaining high quality of its graduate programmes.
    • ii. Ensuring compliance with best practices of research ethics.
    • iii. Effective use of its funding for research and faculty participation in international conferences.

Five Year Research Programme 2024-2029:

Over the next five years CREB will continue its efforts to raise the quality and sustain the volume of its research in the period 2024-2029. Keeping in mind the small number of CREB staff, our planned output for 2024-2029 is less than what was achieved in the last five years (for the number of resident CREB research staff today see Table I, Statistical Annexure II). In the period 2024-2029, CREB staff plan to publish 15 papers in impact factor journals and produce 10 international working papers, CREB working papers and other international and local publications. Depending on the success of the ongoing efforts to revive the Lahore School’s MPhil and PhD programs in Economics, CREB staff expect to supervise 10 MPhil/MS theses in this period. In addition, CREB staff will complete 8 ongoing externally funded research projects and initiate 6 new projects. In addition, CREB will organize 5 international conferences, and 30 seminars with leading academics and field experts as speakers; conduct 10 skills training workshops; host at least 5 early career international researchers; and expand its student outreach programme.
CREB staff will continue with the new initiatives started in 2022 and its flagship ADE conference, with the purpose of capacity building of Lahore School faculty and enhancing their exposure to recent economic developments and latest cutting-edge research methods.

• I. Short-term Resident Fellowship Program: CREB is currently accepting applications from prospective fellows for 2024.
• II. Conferences: This year the 6th annual Applied Development Economics (ADE) conference is planned to be held in person in August 2024. The conference will broadly focus on the following thematic areas: Labour Markets, Industry and Trade, Political Economy and Institutions, Education and Health, and Climate Change with a cross-cutting emphasis on gender.
• III. Essay Competition: This year CREB is planning to start an annual Essay Competition for Lahore School of Economics undergraduate students in order to enhance their ability to economics analysis, reasoning and writing skills.
•   IV. Research projects:: Work will continue on projects initiated during 2023 for which external grant funding is received.

Innovation Technology Center
Research Program

ITC Mission:

Established in April 2015, the Innovation and Technology Centre (ITC) at the Lahore School of Economics aims to drive innovation and economic growth in Pakistan through impactful research and policy engagement. Led by Dr. Azam Amjad Chaudhry and Dr. Theresa Thompson Chaudhry, the ITC collaborates with academia, the public sector, businesses, and stakeholders to address key economic and social challenges. Our focus areas include innovation, productivity, manufacturing, exports, and environmental sustainability. Through annual surveys and research projects, we provide valuable insights for evidence-based policymaking. Despite Pakistan's evolving political and economic landscape, the ITC maintains strong connections with policymakers, Chambers of Commerce, and manufacturers, contributing to informed decision-making and sustainable development.

2. Projects:

Following are some of the ongoing projects of the centre:
1. ITC, Lahore School of Economics in WTO Chairs Programme ITC, Lahore School of Economics was the only institution from Pakistan, among seventeen other universities from least-developed and developing country members, selected as a member of the prestigious WTO’s Chairs Programme. The role of the centre, being part of the WTO Chair Programme, would be to enhance knowledge and understanding of the international trading system among academics and policy makers in the country.
The objectives of the WTO Chair at the Lahore School of the Economics are threefold: First, to further the understanding of trade related issues (including trade theory, implications of restrictions on trade, the role of international bodies like the WTO, etc.) amongst students, the business community, policy makers and other stakeholders. Second, to conduct timely, relevant, and broadly inclusive research on trade related issues which is not only of the highest academic quality but is also relevant to stakeholders. Third, to disseminate the findings of its activities (both research and stakeholder consultations) to a broader audience through an effective dissemination campaign.

2. Innovation in the Pakistani Textile Sector
Abstract The project has been developed under the International Growth Centre (IGC). Innovation and competitiveness are considered to be the backbone of private sector led economic growth and its sustainability. However, in Pakistan, very little is known about the nature and the extent of innovation as well as its determinants and obstacles. In the absence of such evidence, policies can be misdirected and ineffective. In this project, the researchers surveyed a sample of 500 textile firms in Punjab and Sindh. The survey measured both the technological (product and process) and the non-technological (organizational and marketing) aspects of innovation where an innovation is the introduction of a new or significantly improved product, process, organizational method, or marketing method by an enterprise. Through this survey, the researchers measure ‘innovation’ in at least four different ways: (1) Innovation rate (based on the response of enterprise if they had innovated during 2011-13, which is further be divided into four types of innovation; i.e. product, process, organizational and marketing), (2) Innovation input (given by the ratio of R&D expenditure to sales), (3) Innovation output (given by the ratio of new products sales to total sales), and (4) Innovation efficiency (given by the ratio of new product sales to R&D expenditure). Through this study, the researchers answer the following research questions:

• How innovative is the textiles sector of Pakistan (measured in four different ways as described above)?
• What are the correlates (both in terms of promoting and hampering) of innovation? (such as firm type and size, market structure, product market i.e. local or international, government regulations and facilitations, sources and type of cooperation, management patterns, skill profile, ICT, access to finance and source of finances, information on technology and markets, and demand for innovations etc.)

Researchers:Waqar Wadho and Azam Chaudhry (Lahore School)

Graduate Institute of Development Studies (GIDS)
Research Program

Five-Year Research Plan 2024 to 2029

Research Vision

The Graduate Institute of Development Studies research programme is to further the Vision of the Lahore School of Economics to find sustainable and equitable solutions to common global challenges through an inter-disciplinary and inclusive approach concentrating on development policy and practice in the developing world including Pakistan.

Research Mission

To stimulate an interdisciplinary approach to the study of development policy and practice with the objective of producing development professionals with a strong capacity to identify and respond to current economic, social and cultural challenges and to promote equitable and sustainable development in a period of rapid globalization and technological change.

Research Objectives

In keeping with the Lahore School’s strategic perspective of strengthening research to a world class level, the main objectives of GIDS research programme is to build-on and extend its structuralist, multidisciplinary and historical approach to contemporary themes and issues of economic development and social change through evidence based policy oriented research widely disseminated through publications in Journals of repute and books from established and recognized publishing houses.

GIDS Five Year Research Programme 2024-2029

Major Paradigm Shifts in Development Studies

1. Impact of Climate Change
2. Conflict, Peace and Security
3. Natural Disasters, Pandemics, and Economic Downturns
4. Social Capital Networks and their role in equitable and sustained growth and development
5. Emerging fast growing technologies especially IT and AI and Development

Major Research Themes:

1. Economic Development and the Management of Pakistan Economy (1947 to date) in collaboration with Faculty of Economics and CREB). Dr. Rashid Amjad (Lead), Dr. Ejaz Ghani, Ms. Almazia Shahzad, Ms. Quddus, S., Dr. Nawaz, A.
Research conducted by the Institute under this theme will cover the following sub-themes:

• Fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies – the research will focus on the key issue of macroeconomic stabilization and reigniting medium to long term growth.
• Trade policy
• Energy Pricing
• Employment and Labor Market functioning
• Poverty and Malnutrition