Pathways to Development 2025: Rethinking Governance in an Age of Crisis
Share
Rising inequality, climate stress, and fragile institutions define the development landscape of 2025. From September 11–13, the G²LM|LIC/Path2Dev/BREAD Conference on Development Economics at LUMS brought together leading economists, policymakers, and practitioners to confront these overlapping crises with fresh evidence and bold thinking.
The conference was organised jointly by the Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries (G²LM|LIC) programme, the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), IZA Institute of Labor Economics, together with the Chaudhry Nazar Muhammad Department of Economics at the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Mahbub ul Haq Research Centre at LUMS, the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex (IDS), the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives (IDEAS), the International Growth Centre (IGC), the Consortium for Development Policy Research (CDPR), and the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP).
The conversations moved beyond academic theory to address urgent questions: How can tax systems become both fair and effective? What unlocks women's economic participation? How do we build public institutions that citizens actually trust?
During the Chaudhry Nazar Muhammad Distinguished Lecture, Dr. Sheheryar Banuri of the University of East Anglia challenged common assumptions about how public institutions work. His research across multiple countries, including Pakistan, showed that many government employees are genuinely motivated to serve the public good. "The idea of intrinsic corruption doesn't seem to be as accurate," he argued. "It might be more of an institution story."
That insight shaped panel discussions where policy design met implementation reality. A session on tax system resilience explored why fair taxation remains so difficult to achieve across the region. The conversation revealed how technical reforms often fail without first building trust between citizens and the state.
The panel on women's labour force participation showcased experimental evidence from Lahore: providing safe, reliable transport can dramatically increase women's willingness to seek employment. In a region with the world's lowest female participation rates, such findings point to scalable solutions addressing structural barriers rather than individual choices.
A panel on maternal health and nutrition brought together experts from international organisations and Pakistani universities. Their discussion highlighted how today's health interventions shape tomorrow's opportunities, connecting immediate policy choices to long-term societal outcomes.
Research presentations deepened these conversations with studies on prepaid electricity systems in Bangladesh, mental health effects of social media use among Pakistani youth, marriage registration's role in reducing domestic violence in India, and online tutoring's potential in conflict-affected Ukraine. Despite diverse contexts, these studies shared common threads: development challenges centre on equity, resilience, and institutions that either support or undermine human flourishing.
The conference also featured a mentorship programme, bringing junior researchers—particularly from South Asia—into dialogue with senior scholars. Reflecting on the significance of these conversations, Maroof A. Syed, President and CEO of CERP, noted: "By bringing together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, the conference affirms each year that policy debates must respond to realities on the ground in Pakistan and beyond. There is a high level of intersectionality between inequality, governance, gender, health and education especially in the context of climate change. Unless we address them together and align budgets with these priorities, inclusive development will remain out of reach."
Keynote speaker Dr. Imran Rasul of University College London examined social insurance design, arguing that resilience requires thinking beyond individual interventions to institutional approaches for collective security. “It’s better to target firms rather than workers,” he observed. “Although workers are more exposed, their skills allow them to remain more resilient.”
The conference showed how local evidence can inform wider debates on inequality, governance, and resilience — and how dialogue between researchers and policymakers can open practical pathways for more inclusive development.
