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S Akbar Zaidi
(Draft Report March 24, 1999)

A Study commissioned by and submitted to UNDP, Islamabad

S Akbar Zaidi, TP-3, Block B, Fourth Floor, Mall Square, Zamzama Boulevard, Defence Housing Authority, Phase 5, Karachi, Pakistan. tel/fax: 92-21-586-3814 email: azaidi@www.fascom.com

This annotated bibliography on Poverty in Pakistan attempts to bring together almost every single publication on poverty in Pakistan published in the last three decades. The list of books, papers and reports on poverty in this Bibliography, is a complete list and not a selection, and has been based on all known studies available in the public domain. Official papers and reports which have been kept confidential by donors or the Government of Pakistan, are not included. Also not included are in-house studies and reports which focus on particular projects undertaken by nongovernmental organisations working in Pakistan. Easy access to these studies has formed a precondition for their inclusion.

From the first known publication on poverty in Pakistan in 1973, to the most recent in February 1999, this comprehensive Bibliography serves two main purposes: firstly, it informs anyone interested on poverty in the country, about the nature and number of publications available, and secondly, it highlights and summarizes the key features of all included publications. It is important to emphasize that this is not a 'review of literature' study, for there have been some rather good reviews in more recent years which are also included in this collection, but rather, a publication focusing attention on the contents of the studies emphasizing their main arguments. Even though the quality of studies is very varied, ranging from the outstanding to the otherwise mediocre, this Bibliography does not critique the studies and nor does it pass judgement on them. However, a discerning reader ought to be able to distinguish the quality of the studies from these short notes on each. Although there are some outstanding papers on poverty in this list, while there are as many which are of varying quality, the latter form part of this collection only because they deal with some aspect of poverty and not because they are of a high standard; in a selection of only well researched and good publications, most of the latter would not be considered for inclusion. Nevertheless, a rating system is provided which distinguishes the better studies from those that are of variable quality.

Given the dispersion in quality, one can identify numerous types of studies in this collection. Unfortunately, much of the work that has been done on poverty in Pakistan, has been based on a number-crunching exercise. and while many studies are methodologically sound, most do not explain the phenomenon of poverty in Pakistan and nor its causes and, analysis has been lacking. This has been a shortcoming of studies in the past, although more recently, the trend to offer explanations and interpretations has gained importance. This, perhaps, represents the way poverty has been seen in Pakistan, by researchers, donors and by government. Most of the work on poverty in the earlier years was based on estimating the extent, incidence and distribution of poverty in Pakistan, and only of late has a more holistic approach to combating poverty been undertaken. This change in emphasis is clearly marked in this collection. It is also possible to see at least three 'generation' of studies on poverty in this list. The first generation would probably include the first four or five studies conducted in the 1970s. followed by a bulk of studies which form the second generation of studies in the 1980s upto around the mid-1990s; the third generation presents far more mature work in terms of techniques and methodology, and also shifts the focus on to explanations, interventions and means to alleviate poverty in Pakistan. Moreover, as the quality of data has improved so has the analysis.

This bibliography presents the studies on poverty, in a reverse chronological order beginning with the most recent, first. Cross-references are made to studies which are of particular importance to the one under review, or then have a great deal of similarity with it. For each study a selection of three or four 'keywords' are provided which focus on the main themes of the paper/study, and act as a quick guide and reference to the contents of the study. Finally, a rating system is provided to most of the studies, where [**] implies essential reading for anyone interested in understanding poverty in Pakistan and on doing further research on it; [*] implies, that given interest and will not interest most readers, or are of variable quality.