Browsing by Author "Supervised by Dr. Jahan Zeb"

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    Economic Analysis of Consumption Pattern and Living Standard of Rural-Urban Population in North West Frontier Province of Pakistan
    (Department of Economics, University of Peshawar. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2004) Zilakat Khan Malik; Supervised by Dr. Jahan Zeb
    The activities related to maintaining life and improving its condition encompass both consumption and production. The pattern and composition of consumption determine the standard of living, while the sole purpose of production is to provide the means of consumption and to increase the income. Higher consumption and its appropriate pattern improve the standard of living and economic development. The rural-urban division of population also influences the economic development. Therefore. topic of the dissertation was stated as "Economic Analysis of consumpation pattern and living standard of Rural-Urban population in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan" and an attempt was made to achieve the following main objectives: To asses the socio-economic conditions of Rural-Urban households and to analyse their budgetary position and To discuss their consumption pattern and living standard and to verify the .following main assumptions: o Socio-economic conditions and the budgetary position were not conducive to improve their living standard. o Significant fraction of income was spent on uneconomic pursuits. The consumption pattern was substandard. Scope of the study was confined to the NWFP. Both the primary and secondary sources of data were used for collection of data. A comprehensive interview schedule Ivas used to collect primary cross section data. A sample size of 120 households was distributed among six villages from rural region and six streets from urban region of the different strata of the province, determined on basis of developed districts and under developed/backward districts. The sample households were selected using a combination of Stratified Random Sampling and Simple Random Sampling techniques. According to Keynes psychological law of consumption, the simple and multiple linear consumption functions were estimated and the Marginal Propensities to Consume and to Save (MPC and MPS) were determined. For the size distribution (income) and determination of degree of poverty, the Lorenz curve, Gini-coefficient and the ratio of bottom 20% to top 20% were used. The study is organized in seven chapters followed by appendices and annexures. Chapter-I and 2 focus on the introduction and review of literature respectively. Demographic features of the sample households are analysed in chapter 3 and chapter 4 is devoted to "Budgetary Position of the sample households-. It was observed that the overall average family size was nine. More than half of the population consisted of dependent class. Females were greater in number. Majority (70%) of the sample population lived in the rural region depending on agriculture. Only 34.10% of the labour force could get employment. A remarkable proportion (84.13%) of unemployed females was recorded in the rural areas. Main occupation in the urban area was business, while it was farming in the rural areas.Majority of the sample households fell in the low income brackets. Very few families could reach higher income brackets. The level of consumption was very low. In absolute terms it it-as Rs. 120 lac per month for 2080 individuals. The consumption pattern was also not on the proper track Allocations to uneconomic pursuits and unproductive expenditures were greater as compared to spending on education. health and balanced .foods. As a consequence the standard of living was substandard and all the indicators did not prove to lead to the economic development. The empirical results also supported that the standard of living was substandard,because a very low autonomous consumption and a high marginal propensity to consume (due to the level of income on or closer to the break even point) led to less savings and in turn a lower level of investment, which adversely influenced production capacity and economic growth. This situation slowed down economic development. The techniques used for the size distribution showed that very few individuals of the society could receive a greater portion of income, while a greater number of households shared a very small fraction of the national income. It was concluded that in addition to some other factors, the unequal distribution of income and its severity were the main obstacles in achieving proper level and pattern of consumption, appropriate standard of living and desirable rate of economic development.