Suchergebnisse

Consensus is emerging between development thinkers and
practitioners that social progress is a necessary pre-condition for
sustained economic growth. Social development leads to higher levels of
literacy, better health standards and overall improvement in the
society's living conditions. In fact, empirical evidence suggests that
there is a two-way relationship between economic growth and social
development [Ghaus-Pasha et al. (1998)]. Economic growth leads to higher
revenues for government and higher per capita income, encouraging both
public and private spendings on human development. Improvements in
social indicators feedback as higher economic growth through enhanced
productivity for labour and capital. In other words, well-developed
human capital makes a significant contribution to economic growth which,
in turn, offers improved welfare and better living
conditions.

The non-profit sector remains relatively small and
underdeveloped in Pakistan. During the decade of the 1990s, it has
demonstrated some nascent growth resulting from a number of favourable
factors like the return to democracy, the growing push towards
deregulation and privatisation, the process of globalisation and the
emergence of international coalitions of civil society and the
deterioration in the financial position of governments which has limited
the public provision of social services. The objective of this paper is
to examine the role played by government policy in fostering this
process of growth of the non-profit sector of Pakistan and to review the
key issues faced by the sector at this time. Of particular concern are,
first, the overall posture of the government towards the non-profit
sector, the types of policies in place, and the underlying philosophy or
principles that guide policy-making. Second, the forms of support to the
non-profit sector by different levels of government. Third, the posture
of international organisations and supranational governments towards
local non-profit organisations and, forth, the major issues facing the
non-profit sector at the present time.

Fiscal equalisation refers to attempts within a federal system
of government to reduce fiscal disparities among jurisdictions, which
emerge due to variation in sub-national jurisdictions ability to raise
revenues to meet the public expenditure needs of their residents. This
is because of an imbalance in the assignment of revenue sources to
sub-national levels and their expenditure needs, given the allocation of
the inter-governmental fiscal powers and responsibilities. In the
Pakistani context, the need for transfers is highlighted by the fact
that while provincial governments generate only about 8 percent of total
national resources, their share in total public spending is 28 percent.
Also the fiscal capacity of the four provinces varies, with the
relatively more developed provinces being able to self-generate a higher
proportion of their resource requirements. As such, transfers take
place, according to the provisions of the National Finance Commission
(NFC) awards, with the objective of removing both vertical and
horizontal imbalances between own-revenues and expenditure.

Many governments use price subsidisation (total costs less
total revenues from user charges) to meet social protection objectives
in lieu of, or in addition to, direct income transfers. Such subsidies
may be perceived as influencing behaviour to further other socially
desirable policies. For example, the price response induced by lowering
the price of schooling will both lower the cost of living for the
beneficiaries and also increase the investment in education more than a
similar income transfer would achieve. The incidences of benefits from a
general price subsidy are proportional to purchases and can be deduced
from the pattern of expenditures. Some goods are inappropriate vehicles
for redistribution since subsidies on them will not only accrue mainly
to the rich they will actually increase inequality in welfare. It is
therefore important to ensure that commodities chosen for price
subsidisation are largely consumed by the lower income groups. Also,
detailed data on such commodities should be made public to make the
extent of subsidy easily tractable.