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Showing posts from October, 2010

Frictional Unemployment

Tough times are those in which you search for any jobs days after days. Endless browsing through the job sites and becoming a regular reader of the daily newspapers (mostly the ads) yet endeavor is yet to see its end. You don't know where all those of your CVs are going and why you are not being called for a test? All these happens because in Economics we read that there is Frictional unemployment in the economy. Going through these lines I feel strongly that one of the victim or contributor to this Frictional unemployment is me :(

Earth Quake in Islamabad

I had just gone to sleep with an aching stomach and was not yet fully slept when a power jolt shaked all the underconstruction building on 1st floor of which we have got a room. All the previous day I was out in Islamabad and Pindi and had came after evening was well in. Here the night was not good as i was feeling immense pain in my stomach which is still quite there now. After the quake subsided i was unble to go to sleep and remained vigilant for any aftershocks through out the night. The quake was unusully powerful and I felt really worried. I felt it was more powerful than the 2005 one when I was in Peshawar. However no loss of life or any other damage is reported.

PHD in Economics

Not many universities offer PHD program in Economics in Pakistan. And of those offered only a few can be said to produce quality PHDs. So the other choice remains is to go for study in Abroad. But it not comes at free. There are requirement of GRE and Toefl which are a hard to do job for a Pakistani student. Here are few advice for the aspiring Economists. A lot has been said & done already. Study for your GREs because they're very important -- get multiple computer practice exams. Take courses & obtain research experience that you think will prepare you well for grad school. This might include graduate economics classes, or finding some offbeat & compelling research topic for an undergrad paper. Or maybe just trying to fill some deficiencies in your mathematics training (like, e.g., if you haven't taken multivariable calc & linear algebra). I think the econ courses are better preparation than are the more sophisticated math courses, but probability & math

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)

I have always been confused by this term. My teacher in International Economics in QAU would used derive it through some formulas which we will instantly memorize for the forthcoming Sessional Exams but really did not get what purchasing power parity means?? There were example in our book about the hair dress in US an in other part of world. The basic concept of PPP is that a currency normal exchange rate may not depict its original purchasing power. For example a hair dress in Pakistan costs say 85 Rs. It means it should be one dollar in USA. But it is not. There say it is in 5 dollars. So what the exchange rate is based on this? It is 16 PKR/USD. Thus in PPP the PKR value is much higher. So a basic concept of PPP is that the goods and services determine real exchange rate. An interesting PPP index is developed by the Economist which is called Big Mac Index, named after a famous product of an international fast food chain. It compares the prices of Big Mac in different countries of th

Real Estate and Islamabad

After hectic search,, lot of mental and physical exertion at last i got hold of a room with two other roommates. Real Estate is a booming sector of economy currently in federal capital and getting accommodation here is a hard fetched phenomena. With the influx of people from outside for jobs, educations and other opportunities in the federal capital, the housing prices are way out of the reach of ordinary people. So the suburbans like Rawalpindi, Barakahu etc bear the influx of immigrant to the federal capital. Here also most of the problems occur when you are a bachelor i.e u do not have a family with you. Same is the case with us. No landlord is going to give your room on rent unless he knows you someway otherwise outrightly rejects. There are hostels for students in the city but they have compulsory messing and other facilities which you don't really are able to enjoy but you have to pay if you are using them or not. So it is not possible for you to revert back to a hostel for