Mahbub ul Haq

Mahbub ul-Haq was a Pakistani economist, international development theorist, and politician who shaped global approaches to measuring human well-being. He served as the Minister of Finance from 10 April 1985 to 28 January 1986, and later held the same position as a caretaker from June to December 1988. Haq is best known for devising the Human Development Index, which remains a primary tool for gauging the progress of nations.

Early life and education

Haq was born on 24 February 1934 in Gurdaspur, located in the Punjab Province of British India. His teenage years were defined by widespread intercommunal violence and forced migration after the independence of India and Pakistan in August 1947. He and his family migrated to the newly created state of Pakistan following the partition. Haq stated that they narrowly escaped being killed during one of the refugee trains heading toward Pakistan.

After reaching Lahore, he received government-sponsored housing and focused on his studies. In 1953, he graduated with an economics degree from Government College University in Lahore. He later won a scholarship to attend the University of Cambridge in England. There, he earned a second degree in economics alongside the Indian economist Amartya Sen. Haq then traveled to the United States to pursue doctoral studies at Yale University, where he obtained a PhD. He completed postdoctoral research at the Harvard Kennedy School during 1960–61.

Career

Haq returned to Pakistan in 1957 at the age of 23 to join the Planning Commission as Assistant Chief. He advocated for capitalism as the national economic base and helped guide the government toward free-market principles. This approach was embraced by the military government of General Ayub Khan after he took power in October 1958. By the 1960s, Haq served as the Chief Economist of the Planning Commission and delivered speeches across the country to support these policies.

Despite the economic growth, Haq grew concerned regarding how benefits were distributed among the population. In April 1968, he delivered a widely reported speech at the University of Karachi where he alleged that 22 industrial family groups controlled a massive portion of Pakistan's assets. He claimed these groups controlled approximately 79% of insurance assets and 80% of banking assets in the industrial domain. These revelations helped mobilize grassroots protests that led to the overthrow of Ayub Khan in March 1969.

Following this political shift, Haq moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as the Director of Policy Planning at the World Bank from 1970 to 1982. During this tenure, he influenced lending policies by steering attention toward poverty alleviation and social sectors such as education and nutrition. Although Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto invited him to join the Ministry of Finance in 1970 and again in 1973, Haq refused due to opposing views on nationalization. He eventually returned to Pakistan in 1982 at the request of General Zia-ul-Haq's military government.

Haq assumed the directorship of the Planning Commission in 1982 and became the Minister of Planning and Development in 1983. In 1985, he was sworn in as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Affairs under the government of Mohammed Khan Junejo. He oversaw economic liberalization and tax reforms, but he resigned in January 1986 due to protests regarding his reforms. He returned to the role of Finance Minister during the caretaker administration of General Zia-ul-Haq from June to December 1988.

In 1989, Haq moved back to the United States to serve as a special adviser to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under William Henry Draper III. As Project Director, he led the establishment of the Human Development Report and the Human Development Index. This index measures development through well-being rather than relying solely on financial income. He returned to Pakistan in 1996 to establish the Human Development Centre in Islamabad.

Awards and recognition

Haq is regarded by many as one of the greatest economists of his era. The Economist described him as one of the visionaries of international development. Amartya Sen and Tam Dalyell noted that his work brought about a major change in the statistical accounting of the development process. His 1995 book, Reflections on Human Development, helped open new avenues for policy proposals like the United Nations Global Compact formed in 2000.

He was recognized as a Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and received the Royal Medal. Many scholars viewed him as the most articulate spokesman for the developing world. His influence on global development remains profound through the continued use of his indices.