Honouring Parvez Hasan

It is indeed a privilege for me to join Dr Naved Hamid inpaying tribute to Dr Parvez Hasan, an outstanding economist recognisedfor his work on development economics, on the economy of Pakistan, andthe East Asian economies. The Pakistan Society of Development Economistshonours him today for his contribution to. economics, to the developmentof the Pakistan economy and to the economic profession in Pakistan. DrNaved Hamid has recalled Dr Parvez Hasan illustrious career. In mytribute to Dr Parvez Hasan I want to put his life and career in thebroader context of the times he lived in and the important institutionsin which he served and their development to which he contributed. To methe life of Dr Parvez Hasan, as so wonderfully captured in his recentlypublished autobiography, "My Life My Country-Memoirs of a PakistaniEconomist", is a story which covers not only the creation and earlyyears of Pakistan's independence but is the story of its nascent yearsand the rise of the profession of economists in Pakistan. It is also thestory of three remarkable economists, whose lives and careers wereclosely intertwined and of three great institutions which were to playapioneering role in the economic development of Pakistan as well as inlaying the foundation of serious analytical and applied research onemerging economic issues confronting the country.