Analyzing the Import Demand Function with Expenditure Components: Evidence from Pakistan

This study highlights the responsiveness of import demand in the context of aggregate expenditure components in Pakistan over the period of 1974?C2009. The study uses Johansen multivariate cointegration analysis and estimates an error correction model to drive the long-run and short run elasticities of the import demand behavior. The cointegration results provide a strong empirical validity of the presence of long run elasticities between import and macro-components. In the long-run, the consumption expenditure is the main dominant determinants of the movements in import demand in Pakistan. In the short-run, the consumption and investment expenditures are the major determinants of import demand while the import demand is not sensitive to relative price. Moreover, the parameter stability tests confirm the stability of the model, and the sensitivity analysis confirms the robustness of initial results.     

Multidimensional Analysis of Water Poverty and Subjective Well-Being: A Case Study on Local Household Variation in Faisalabad,Pakistan

Water poverty is difficult to evaluate because it is multidimensional. It is determined not only by the availability of water sources but also whether communities have adequate access to clean, uncontaminated water. It is also dependent on the resource needs of those using the water. Under the premise that water scarcity is multidimensional, we use a Water Poverty Index approach using Principal Component Analysis to develop an index at the household level in 10 villages in one large farming community to examine each household’s subjective view of well being as a result of water poverty. This paper reviews how water resources endowments and depletion because of indiscriminate disposal of untreated industrial wastewater, household sewage and climate change are posing serious threats to water poverty at the household level in developing agrarian economies like Pakistan. We report from our results that both the perceived level of pollution and the proximity to clean and polluted water sources matter significantly for subjective well-being in rural households of Pakistan. The villages closer to polluted water sources are unhappier while the villages, which have better access to fresh water, have relatively higher subjective well-being. A strong implementation of environmental protection measures and regional strategies are suggested to alleviate water poverty and increase subjective well-being in local communities.     

Economic Growth and Social Cohesion: Evidence from the Organization of Islamic Conference Countries

This study contributes in the literature by investigating the impact of social cohesion on economic growth using a panel data of 44 OIC countries over the period 1986–2010. The study has employed a comprehensive measure of social cohesion that covers a large number of social indicators such as inequality, trust, terrorism, and social conflicts. Our study finds out that the growth effect of social cohesion is positive and significant in the Muslim world. Finding of the study are shown to be robust to different control variables, different specifications, econometric techniques and outliers.     

Premarital sexual standards of rural youth

Abstract

This study measures and evaluates the premarital sexual standards of a sample of adolescents residing in a small Mississippi community. On the basis of their response patterns to a set of Guttman scale items, the students were classified into three standards: abstinence, double standard, and the single standard of permissiveness. A racial comparison of the Mississippi sample with Reiss' Virginia student sample revealed striking similarities with one exception—a significantly higher proportion of Mississippi whites endorsed permissiveness without affection. The Mississippi data, however, failed to give strong support to the presumed prevalence of the double standard. Moreover, several social factors examined appeared to influence the standards of whites and females to a greater extent than those of Negroes and males.     

The Global Integration and Transmission of Social Values: A Case of Family Ties

Social Indicators Research - Family ties are arguably of particular importance in an era of globalization, where ideological and material changes in national and global arena intersect with...