Karachi:Joan Robinson, one of the well-known female economists, after her first two visits to China in 1953 and 1957, had predicted that China would lead the world’s economy in the late 20th century.
These views were expressed by senior economist, writer and speaker Dr Pervez Tahir on Friday, who is an author of ‘Making Sense of Joan Robinson on China’ and was the chief guest at the book launching ceremony held at the Arts Auditorium, University of Karachi.
He said Joan paid eight visits to China from the early ‘50s to the late ‘70s including 1963, 1964, 1967, 1972, 1975 and finally 1978. She had a different point of views as compared to other economists of her time and had taken an interest in the development of China.
The Quality Enhancement Cell KU organized the event during which the author shed lights on different aspects of Joan Robinson’s personal and professional life and also discussed what Joan Robinson had learned during her visits to India and China.
Dr Tahir said that Joan Robinson had observed that China has made a lot of changes in their political system due to which it was able to progress so well.
He informed the audience about the contributions which Joan Robinson made in her work on China and urged students to read the book to understand how country could change them from poor, underprivileged to a developed country.
“Joan Robinson has witnessed poverty in England, India and China and was able to observe industrial development in England and China and familiar with the power of economics.”
KU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi said that the author Dr Pervez Tahir has collected published and unpublished writing and work of Joan Robinson in the book.
He said that China has surprised the whole world with eradicated poverty and using its massive population so wisely that they are now new economic superpowers of the world.
He further said that Pakistani governments should study the business model China used for its development but not necessarily copy/paste them because every country has to design, establish or implement business models according to its ground reality.
Iraqi mentioned that government should create more jobs and make policies to boost the agricultural sectors and industries of the country; otherwise, we would not be able to eradicate poverty from the country.
He observed that we could increase our foreign reserves by bringing reforms in the business sectors and adopt policies which help us in completing with the foreign markets. “China has challenged different theories and models of business and its success is remarkable.”
Industrialist Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig talked about business development with China and said that from January 01, 2020, Pakistan is sending more than 300 products to different Chinese markets and this duty-free export would help in strengthening the country’s economy.
He shared that due to the cost-production issue China is planning to shift various industries to Pakistan which would open the doors of employment and opportunity of the transformation of knowledge and technology.
Baig said that in the past Europe and USA established their industries in China and made a huge investment to boost their businesses and now China wants to utilize cheap labor available in Pakistan.
He observed that China would be able to avoid high labor rate issues if they shifted their industries in Pakistan.
Another speaker, Chief Economist Pakistan Arshad Zaman said that China has faced civil war and revolution but owing to the great leadership and determination of the Chinese nation they are now one of the economic superpowers of the world.
Artist Muhammad Aslam Sheikh said that we have to learn how China has eradicated poverty and how it has used the latest technology in its development. China without and doubt has surprisingly change its economy within 50 years only.
A researcher and journalist, Sohaib Jamali, said that creation of new jobs and giving more opportunities to the people was something Pakistani governments should learn and implement in the country.
Executive Director Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research Karamat Ali observed that people in governments often forget about the problems faced by the general public but Dr Pervez Tahir was none of them because and always talk about common man issues and want to solve them.
A senior faculty member Professor Dr Jamil Hasan Kazmi urged students to read books and observed that universities should also discuss such topics so that students, young scholars and researchers could learn from the experts.
Chairperson Department of Economics Professor Dr Roohi Ahmed and the Dean, Faculty of Arts and Scoial Sciences, KU, Professor Dr Nasreen Aslam Shah also spoke.