The Mahbub ul Haq Research Centre (MHRC) is the flagship centre of social science research at LUMS. It supports interdisciplinary research, scholarship and teaching on issues of human development, social exclusion and inequality across South Asia. Its vision is to co-construct knowledge on critical challenges with a community of scholars, students, practitioners and social actors to bring about transformative change for an inclusive and equitable society.
Pathways to Development: Inequalities and Social Justice
Happening This Fall 2023

De-Dollarization in Pakistan: A Promising Path or Distant Dream? | The Friday Economist
Eeman Qureshi and Rimsha Arif
De-dollarization is a deliberate move by nations to reduce their dependence on the United States dollar (USD) in international trade, transactions, and…
Blog: Pakistan Dialogues
#FridayEconomist
Inequality, Trust and Taxation in Punjab
Principal Investigators: Dr. Ali Cheema (LUMS, IDEAS, IGC), Dr. Ali Abbas (IMF), Dr. Michael Best (Columbia, IGC), Dr. Michael Callen (LSE, IGC), Dr. Adnan Qadir Khan (LSE, IGC), Dr. Shandana Khan Mohmand (IDS Sussex)
This project aims to assess the degree of horizontal and vertical tax inequity in property tax in metropolitan Punjab. It aims to disentangle the factors responsible for inequity and underutilization of property taxation in Lahore and understand the political economy barriers to introducing an equitable property tax code.
Research Political Economy

Analysis on Agriculture Productivity and Climate Change in Pakistan
Researchers: Dr. Abid Aman Burki (LUMS) Dr. Mushtaq A. Khan (LUMS), Muhammad Raza Mustafa Khan (LUMS), Verda Arif (LUMS), Muhammad Abubakar Memon (LUMS), Dr. Shabbir Ahmad (University of Queensland).
The aim of this project is to produce two research papers on “Analysis on Agriculture Productivity and Climate Change in Pakistan,” which will serve as background papers to the World Bank’s Pakistan Country Economic Memorandum 2.0 report to be published in 2022.
Research Climate
Using Satellite Data for Disaster Management
Panelists: Dr. Serena Ceola (Università di Bologna) Dr. Syed M. Hasan (LUMS), Mr. Faisal Fareed (PDMA, Punjab), Mr. Sajid Imran (PDMA, KPK) and Mr. Omar Mukhtar Khan (Team Leader, SEED)
Satellite data can be a useful and inexpensive source of data for disaster management, assisting with forecasting, monitoring, assessing damages and helping direct targeted relief efforts. This webinar will focus on the use of NTL specifically and satellite data more broadly for disaster management in light of Pakistan’s recent floods. The webinar will discuss a recent study that use nightlight data. Dr. Serena Ceola from University of Bologna will present her work correlating the proximity of nightlights to rivers to flood damage.
Mahbub ul Haq Distinguished Lecture
The Patriarchal Political Order:
The Making and Unraveling of the Gendered Participation Gap in India
Author: Soledad Artiz Prillaman
Women across the Global South, and particularly in India, turn out to vote on election days but are noticeably absent from politics year-round. Why? In The Patriarchal Political Order, Soledad Artiz Prillaman combines descriptive and causal analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from more than 9,000 women and men in India to expose how coercive power structures diminish political participation for women. Prillaman unpacks how dominant men, imbued with authority from patriarchal institutions and norms, benefit from institutionalizing the household as a unitary political actor. Women vote because it serves the interests of men but stay out of politics more generally because it threatens male authority. Yet, when women come together collectively to demand access to political spaces, they become a formidable foe to the patriarchal political order. Eye-opening and inspiring, this book serves to deepen our understanding of what it means to create an inclusive democracy for all.
Spotlight