The Presidential Address

In: The Pakistan development review: PDR, Band 54, Heft 4I-II, S. 265-268

Abstract

Aslam-o-alaeekum! Thank you very much for coming. I would like
to welcome you all to the Conference and hope it would be of benefit to
us, not just academically and intellectually but that it would be of
benefit to billions of people on earth who are living in abject poverty.
One of the important things to realise is that this is not inevitable
but rather is a result of the choices we have made. What are these wrong
choices and how can they be changed is the theme of this Conference. One
of the things I would like to say is that world is a battle place of
ideas and these are being played out on a large scale. In the start of
the 20th century, growth was understood as the process of capital
accumulation. Marx and Keynes and classical economists agree on this
idea that growth is about getting more wealth. However, this idea has
fallen into disrepute and the clear conclusion is that growth is about
development of human capabilities. It is a multidimensional process. It
has many components and just the accumulation of wealth is not the
solution to the problems we face. Again, it was thought that development
was about gaining technology and building industries but I think the
realisation is growing stronger that it is all about human
lives.