Economist Atif Mian has argued that Pakistan’s habit of sending workers abroad is designed mainly to earn foreign currency so the elite can “live off DHA better,” and that this mindset must change.
The Princeton University professor spoke on a panel at the Pakistan Conference at Harvard University alongside Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, former State Bank of Pakistan (SBP, the central bank) Governor Reza Baqir, and Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu. A clip of his remarks, which he posted on X, has circulated widely.
Remittances almost match exports
Mian said reliance on money sent home by overseas Pakistanis is “particularly dangerous” in political-economy terms. He noted that the country’s exports and remittances are now almost equal, while remittances are close to 10 percent of GDP—the size of the national economy.
“And we celebrate it. I have seen policy papers saying our goal is to increase remittances even further,” he said. In a healthy growth path, he argued, remittances should fall as a share of the economy, because people prefer to stay and work at home rather than leave.
That structure, he said, creates a lasting incentive: workers abroad keep sending money, and elites can live better from that inflow. “That thinking has to change,” he added, drawing applause.
Why the rupee and exports matter
Mian linked the same pattern to weak export performance. He said Pakistan keeps the exchange rate overvalued—meaning the rupee is held stronger than market forces alone might allow—which effectively taxes exporters. Elites, he argued, often earn from non-tradable sectors such as land, so a strong rupee raises their purchasing power for foreign travel and imported goods.
Pakistan, he said, needs to shift incentives so that elites gain from building export capacity, as China did, rather than from an overvalued currency and remittance inflows.
He has previously argued that Pakistan needs about 5 percent annual growth to recover decades of lost economic ground. The country’s thin export base has also kept the trade deficit—imports exceeding exports—under pressure.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Atif Mian ne kaha ke Pakistan bahir kaam bhej kar dollar lata hai taake elite DHA mein behtar zindagi guzaar sakein. Remittances ab GDP ka qareeb 10 percent hain aur exports ke qareeb barabar hain, lekin woh isay khatarnak samajhte hain. Unka kehna hai ke asli taraqqi mein log ghar mein rehna chahein, remittance share kam ho. Strong rupay se elite ko faida, exporters ko nuqsan hota hai—ye soch badalni chahiye.
