[3] The institute has long been a place of scholarship of high-profile, prominent individuals who previously held positions in government, including Benazir Bhutto, Mahbub-ul-Haq, Robert Mundell (a Nobel Laureate who serves on our Advisory Committee) and Shahid Allam— all PIDE fellows.
This multidisciplinary programme, while maintaining its core of basic demographic features, includes new areas such as reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and current aspects of traditional population topics such as aging, adolescence, gender, and the environment.
In view of PIDE's current status as a degree-awarding academic institution, the many administrative and cadre changes necessary for the purpose can be foreseen.
Apart from the teaching Departments, the main Divisions at PIDE consist of Research, Publications, Training, Library, and Computer services.
In light of PIDE's recently expanded educational role, the teaching faculties at the Institute are among its main focal developments.
Source:[9] At the beginning, three well-known economists, Max F. Millikan, Gunner Myrdal (Nobel Laureate), and E. A. G. Robinson formed the Institute's International Advisory Board.
Following registration with the Government of Pakistan as an autonomous organisation and the transfer of management to Pakistanis, the International Advisory Board extended its membership to seven Internationally well known economists, namely, Hollis B. Chenery, Ansley J. Coale, Just Faaland, Harry G. Johnson, Gustav Ranis, and Paul P. Streeten.
PIDE is mainly funded by the Government of Pakistan, and partly through earnings from its endowment and the studies carried out for various international organisations.
The Institute has been restructured as follows: A number of studies have been completed at PIDE in collaboration with various international organisations, including the World Bank, Committee for International Cooperation on Research in Demography (CICRED), Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Labour Organisation (ILO), the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Bank Institute (WBI), Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), World Economic Forum, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), ILO/ARTEP, Asian and Pacific Development Centre (APDC), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Erasmus University (Rotterdam), Institute of Social Studies (The Hague), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), Germany, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO), University of Tübingen, Germany, International Centre for Economic Growth, USA, International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada, etc.
PIDE, in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, has also worked on a project on “Community-based Monitoring System”.
SANEI is a regional initiative to foster networking and collaboration among economic research institutes in South Asia.
As such, special emphasis is given to capacity building and formation of a South Asia-wide professional network of researchers engaged in policy-oriented studies.
The Panel reviews the progress of the projects and provides expert guidance, with the objective to improve the quality of research.
A constitution, “SANEI, Pakistan”, has been adopted and the body has been registered as a Society, with T. N. Srinivasan as its Chairman and Nadeem Ul Haque as its Secretary (Coordinator).
A number of joint publishing and production projects have also been completed in collaboration with other research organisations, notably the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Islamabad, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, the East-West Centre, Honolulu, the International Centre for Economic Growth, San Francisco, the Centre for Development Planning, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, National Institute of Banking and Finance, Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan, the United Nations Population Fund, International Labour Organisation, and the United Nations Development Programme.
Redesigned and re-planned twice in the last two decade, the contents have tended to emphasise theoretical-cum-empirical contributions; the underlying commitment has been to strengthen the interest in the general areas of Economics and other social science fields.
The journal is issued quarterly and, with a fair mix of topics, regularly contains original (theoretical and empirical) contributions to Economics, in general, and on Pakistan's socio-economic problems, in particular.
They actively participate in refereeing the papers submitted to the Review for publication; they also render valuable advice on other related matters.
A recent book, Gender and Empowerment: Evidence from Pakistan, by Rehana Siddiqui, et al. (2006), addresses current concerns.
PIDE conducts a variety of programmes and activities designed to support dialogue and information exchange among researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.
The Society's current membership of more than four hundred includes Nobel Laureates, academics, administrators, and other members working in all the different continents of the world.
The Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Society is an occasion for stock-taking of the work done at PIDE and elsewhere on various socioeconomic problems of Pakistan, the region, and the world, as well as for suggesting new initiatives for further research.
These meetings provide for the much-needed communication amongst the economics professionals, policy-makers, and various schools of interested observers of the ongoing debate concerning development-related issues.
Twenty one such meetings have been held thus far, with over 600 papers presented in areas such as agriculture, industry, international trade and exchange rates, fiscal and monetary economics, project appraisals, demography, human resource development, resource mobilisation, debt, governance, gender, poverty, structural adjustment, and Islamic economics.
The Distinguished Speaker list in different years has had on it such names as Lawrence R. Klein (Nobel Laureate), Sir Hans W. Singer, E. Malinvaud, Paul P. Streeten, Ansley J. Coale, David P. Laidler, Robert A lecture series, entitled “Lectures in Development Economics”, was instituted many years ago.
The seminars are open to policymakers, researchers, planners, practitioners, educators, individuals from the public and private organisations, and students.
As PIDE is one of the institutes designated by the Government of Pakistan for promotion-related capacity building of civil servants of various occupational groups (BPS-17 and above), the number of courses to be administered at this campus has been increasing.