Mahbub ul-Haq (; ) was a Pakistani economist,

international development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic development, economic or human development (economics), human development on an international sca ...

theorist, and politician who served as the minister of Finance from 10 April 1985 to 28 January 1986, and again from June to December 1988 as a caretaker. Regarded as one of the greatest economists of his time, Haq devised the

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

, widely used to gauge the development of nations. After graduating with a degree in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the Government College University in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, he won a scholarship to the

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England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, where he obtained a second higher degree in the same field. He later received his

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from

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in the

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and conducted

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at the

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. Haq returned to Pakistan to serve as the chief economist of the Planning Commission throughout the 1960s. In 1970, after the fall of Ayub Khan, Haq moved to

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to serve at the

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as Director of Policy Planning until 1982, where he played a major role in reorienting its approach to assisting development in

low-income countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreemen ...

. He returned to Pakistan in 1982, and in 1985 assumed the position of Finance Minister with the

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, and oversaw a period of

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in the country. In 1989, he moved back to the United States, where he served as the special adviser to the

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(UNDP) under its head, William Henry Draper III. At the UNDP, Haq led the establishment of the

Human Development Report The Human Development Report (HDR) is an annual Human Development Index report published by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The first HDR was launched in 1990 by the Pakistani economist Ma ...

and the widely-respected

(HDI), which measures development by well-being, rather than by financial income alone. He returned to Pakistan in 1996 to establish the Human Development Centre in the capital city of

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

. Haq is considered to have had a profound effect on global development. His 1995 book, ''Reflections on Human Development'', is said to have opened new avenues to policy proposals for human development paradigms, such as the

United Nations Global Compact The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding United Nations pact to get businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is the world's ...

that was formed in 2000.Mahbub ul Haq (1996) Reflections on Human Development.

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. 288 pages.

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...

and Tam Dalyell judged Haq's work to have "brought about a major change in the understanding and statistical accounting of the process of development". ''

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'' called him "one of the visionaries of international development". He was widely regarded as "the most articulate and persuasive spokesman for the developing world".

Early life and education

Haq was born into a Punjabi Muslim family on 24 February 1934 in the city of

Gurdaspur Gurdaspur is a city in the Majha region of the Indian state of Punjab, between the rivers Beas and Ravi. It houses the administrative headquarters of Gurdaspur District and is in the geographical centre of the district, which shares a bord ...

, Punjab Province, British India (now located in the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by ...

). His teenage years saw widespread intercommunal violence and forced migration following the independence of India and Pakistan from British rule in August 1947. He and his family migrated from India to the newly-created state of Pakistan following the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

; Haq stated that they narrowly escaped being killed in one of the refugee trains heading to Pakistan. After reaching

, Haq was given government-sponsored housing and decided to continue his education. In 1953, he graduated with a degree in economics from Lahore's Government College University. He later earned a scholarship to attend

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, where he earned another BA in the same discipline alongside Indian economist

, with whom he formed a close friendship. After renewing his scholarship, Haq went to

for his doctoral studies at Yale University and obtained a PhD. Later, Haq carried out postdoctoral work at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1960–61.

Career

Upon returning to Pakistan in 1957 at the age of 23, Haq joined the Planning Commission as Assistant Chief while it prepared its first Five-Year Plan. Influenced by the dominant economic thought in American academia, Haq advocated capitalism as the economic base of the national economy and helped guide the government to apply free-market principles to boost the economy. This approach was wholeheartedly embraced by the military government of General Ayub Khan after it came to power in October 1958. By the 1960s as Chief Economist of the Planning Commission Haq was delivering speeches all over the country in support of these economic policies. While the international community was applauding Pakistan as a model of development, Haq developed concerns that all was not well with the distribution of the benefits of growth. Rapid economic development made Haq's team doubt the long-term viability of such a pattern of growth, and he increasingly supported heavier taxation of the asset owning classes. In a widely reported speech to the Applied Economics Research Centre at the University of Karachi in April 1968, Haq alleged that "22 industrial family groups had come to dominate the economic and financial life-cycle of Pakistan and that they controlled about two-thirds of industrial assets, 80% of banking and 79% of insurance assets in the industrial domain." The list included Dawood family of Dawood Group, Saigols of

Saigol Group The Saigol Group ( ) is a group of companies headquartered in Lahore. It was founded by Ameen Saigol in the 1930s with a small shop that eventually developed into the Kohinoor Rubber Works. Ameen Saigol had four sons: Yousaf, Sayeed, Gull and Ba ...

, Adamjees of Adamjee Group, Colony, Fancy, Valika, Jalil, Bawany, Crescent, Wazir Ali, Gandhara, Ispahani, House of Habib, Khyber, Nishat Group, Beco, Gul Ahmed Group, Arag, Hafiz, Karim, Milwala and Dada. These revelations played a major role in mobilising millions in a massive grassroots protest movement that led to Field Marshal Ayub Khan's overthrow in March 1969. Following Ayub's fall, Haq accepted an invitation from

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...

, president of the

to serve as his Director of Policy Planning. During his tenure (1970–82), Haq influenced the Bank's

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

lending In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the debt ( ...

policies, steering more attention towards

poverty alleviation Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics classi ...

programmes and increased allocations for small farm production,

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

and other

social sector In relation to public services, the voluntary sector is the realm of social activity undertaken by non-governmental, not for profit organizations. This sector is also called the third sector (in contrast to the public sector and the private sector ...

s. He wrote a studyMahbub ul Haq (1976) The Poverty Curtain: Choices for the Third World.

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

. 247 pages. that served as a precursor to the

basic needs The basic needs approach is one of the major approaches to the measurement of absolute poverty in developing countries globally. It works to define the absolute minimum resources necessary for long-term physical well-being, usually in terms of Co ...

and human development approaches of the 1980s. While working at the World Bank, Haq was invited by Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to join the Ministry of Finance, but ultimately refused as he had strong opposing views on Bhutto's program of nationalization. In 1973 Bhutto again asked Mahbub to return to Pakistan and join his administration in devising a strategy that would lift a large number of Pakistanis out of poverty and

stagflation Stagflation is the combination of high inflation, stagnant economic growth, and elevated unemployment. The term ''stagflation'', a portmanteau of "stagnation" and "inflation," was popularized, and probably coined, by British politician Iain Mac ...

, but their major differences persuaded Haq not to return. In 1982 Haq returned at the request of General Zia-ul-Haq's military government, where he assumed directorship of the Planning Commission. In 1983 Haq was appointed Minister of Planning and Development. According to Parvez Hasan 'under Mahbub's direction, the Planning Commission became once again a lively place and began to exert powerful influence on social sector issues, including education and

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marit ...

, much neglected in earlier Zia years. In 1985 President Zia oversaw a partial return to democracy with so-called 'non-party' general elections, and Haq was sworn in as Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Affairs in the PML government of Mohammed Khan Junejo. Haq's is credited with significant

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deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

of the

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

, increased emphasis on human development and several initiatives for poverty alleviation. Despite this major acceleration in social spending, Haq was forced to resign in January 1986 due to protests regarding his reforms. He was reappointed as Finance Minister in the caretaker administration established by General Zia-ul-Haq after he dismissed the Junejo government in May 1988. Haq's term ended when the PPP government of

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...

was sworn in following the general elections of November 1988. In 1989, he was appointed as Special Advisor to the

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

Administrator William Draper in New York City to produce the first

. In this capacity, Haq initiated the concept of Human Development and the

as its Project Director. He led a team of international scholars including

, Paul Streeten, Inge Kaul, Frances Stewart, and Richard Jolly to prepare annual Human Development Reports. In 1996, Haq founded the Human Development Center in Islamabad, Pakistan — a policy research institute committed to organizing professional

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

, policy studies and seminars in the area of human development, with a special focus on

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

. In acknowledgement of his contributions, the Human Development Centre, Islamabad was officially renamed following his death as the Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre on 13 December 1998, with Mrs. Khadija Haq as president.

Death

Haq died on 16 July 1998 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

at the age of 64, leaving behind his wife Khadija Haq, son Farhan and daughter Toneema.

Posthumous recognition

In honour of Haq, UNDP established the Mahbub ul Haq Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Development, which is presented to a leading national, regional or world figure who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to furthering human development understanding and progress. The Mahbub ul Haq Award alternates between recognizing political leaders and civil society leaders. Recipients of this Award include:The Human Development Awards
* 2014 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and a member of The Elders. * 2009 – Frances Stewart, author, researcher and advocate for human development. * 2007 – Sheila Watt-Cloutier, arctic community

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

. * 2004 – Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee ( BRAC). * 2002 – Fernando Henrique Cardoso,

President of Brazil The president of Brazil (), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil () or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head of government of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the ...

, 1995–2002

Selected works

* ''The Strategy of Economic Planning'' (1963) * ''The Poverty Curtain: Choices for the Third World'' (1976). Columbia University Press. 247 pages. * ''The Myth of the Friendly Markets'' (1992) * ''Reflections on Human Development'' (1996)

. 1st edition (1996): 288 pages, . 2nd edition (1999): 324 pages, * ''The U.N. and the Bretton Woods Institutions: New Challenges For The Twenty-First Century'' / Edited By Mahbub Ul Haq ... t Al.(1995) * ''The Vision and the Reality'' (1995) * ''The Third World and the international economic order'' (1976) * ''New Imperatives of Human Security'' (1995) * ''A New Framework for Development Cooperation'' (1995) * ''Humanizing Global Institutions'' (1998)

Notes

External links

* UND
Human Development Reports
website
Mahbub-ul-Haq page on United Nations in Pakistan site
– Contains a tribute, his speeches and the Human Development Review Journal
The Mahbub-ul-Haq Development Center

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haq, Mahbub ul 1934 births 1998 deaths Ministers of finance of Pakistan Pakistani financiers Pakistani economists Pakistani inventors Development economists Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Yale University alumni Fellows of Pakistan Academy of Sciences Military government of Pakistan (1977–1988) Pakistani anti-communists Academic staff of the University of Karachi Game theorists University of the Punjab alumni People from Punjab Province (British India)