Shows
Unpacking UsDoes AI Worsen Gender Inequities?Machine learning algorithms are increasingly being used to make highly consequential decisions for citizens of the Global South. I talk to Genevieve Smith about how algorithmic decision making in the realm of financial inclusion can lead to inequitable outcomes along gender lines, how that compares to the status quo, and how we can do better as practitioners and researchers.Genevieve Smith is the founding co-director of the Responsible and Equitable AI Initiative at the Berkley AI Research Lab and is also part of the faculty at Haas. She also serves as a Gender & AI Fellow at USAID...
2024-07-2142 minUnpacking UsHow Does Generative AI Represent the Global South?With all the buzz surrounding AI, we're missing an understanding of how recent AI advancements affect those in the global South. I talk to Rida Qadri about ways in which generative AI fails to represent those in the Global South, what the implications of these failures are, and what's needed to do better. Rida Qadri is an interdisciplinary scholar focusing on the cultural impacts of generative AI for people and communities in the global south. She is a Research Scientist at Google Research, and has a PhD in Computational Urban Science and Masters in Urban Studies from M...
2023-11-2255 min
Unpacking UsHow Will Parties and Voters Influence the Upcoming Election in Pakistan?In Pakistan, election decisions can be dependent on either the party’s label or the party’s ideology. Currently, Pakistan’s political parties are facing a number of constraints in trying to influence the outcomes of voters’ choice during election time. Dr. Niloufer Siddiqui and Dr. Asad Liaqat discuss these constraints and how the upcoming election outcomes can be influenced by the way parties are structured and the way they interact with voters.This is a guest episode from the "Let's Talk Development" podcast by CDPR. Dr. Niloufer Siddiqui is an Assistant Professor of Political Science a...
2023-10-2851 min
Let's Talk DevelopmentHow Much Say Do Voters Have Over Election Outcomes?In Pakistan, election decisions can be dependent on either the party’s label or the party’s ideology. Currently, Pakistan’s political parties are facing a number of constraints in trying to influence the outcomes of voters’ choice during election time. Dr. Niloufer Siddiqui and Dr. Asad Liaqat discuss these constraints and how the upcoming election outcomes can be influenced by the way parties are structured and the way they interact with voters.
2023-10-2548 min
Unpacking UsWhy Pakistan Needs Strong Local GovernmentsI talk to Ahmad Iqbal about the state of local governments in Pakistan, why we should care about strong local governments, and what it would take for a lasting and strong local government system in Pakistan. Ahmad Iqbal is the former chairman of the Narowal District Council. He is one of the fiercest advocates for strong local governments in Pakistan, and has recently launched the Pakistan Local Democracy Dialogue. This episode is in Urdu.
2022-12-201h 10
Unpacking UsHow Can We Close Gender Gaps in Voting?Pakistan has one of the largest gender gaps in voting in the world. In the 2018 election, the number of women who voted was 11 million less than the number of men who voted. What can we do to close this gender gap? How can we reach a state where women are able to exercise their democratic rights as voters on an equal footing with men? But before we talk about that, why is it even important to close this gender gap? To unpack these questions, I bring in Sarah Khan who is an Assistant Professor of Political Science a...
2022-10-0142 min
Unpacking UsWhy is Housing Unaffordable in Pakistani Cities?I talk to Fizzah Sajjad about why affordable housing in Pakistani cities remains an elusive policy dream. We talk about the reasons why there is so much unmet demand for housing, about the harms of speculative investment in housing, and how the Naya Pakistan Housing Program falls short of its objectives. Fizzah also draws on her comparative expertise to bring in lessons that Pakistan can learn from other countries. Fizzah Sajjad is a PhD Candidate in Human Geography and Urban Studies at the London School of Economics, where she's currently doing research on speculative practices in real es...
2022-09-1751 min
Unpacking UsHow Do We Recover From the Worst Floods in Pakistan's History?Tahir Andrabi unpacks the stages of disaster recovery that Pakistan will go through. We use his experience working on the 2005 earthquakes to think through what an effective flood relief and rehabilitation effort will look like. We talk about what the long-term effects might be on livelihoods and on health and education outcomes, and the interventions that can help minimize these effects. Tahir is the Stedman-Sumner Professor of Economics at Pomona College. He was the inaugeral Dean of the LUMS School of Education, and a co-founder of the Center for Economic Research in Pakistan. It's his research on e...
2022-09-0443 min
Unpacking UsWhat Explains Pakistan's Economic Crisis and How to Solve it?Asim Khwaja walks us through Pakistan's current economic crisis, and why the real solutions lie in long-term productivity increases. In the process, he also tells us what he learnt from a 5th grader during his recent visit to Pakistan, and on the important role that optimism plays both at a personal and structural level. This episode was recorded before floods started wreaking havoc across the entire country. Here is a list of Pakistan and US-based charities involved in flood relief efforts. Please donate generously. Asim Khwaja is the Director of the Center for International Development a...
2022-08-3054 minUnpacking UsTrailerUnpacking Us is launching any day now! Catch the trailer for a glimpse of what's coming up. In each episode, Asad Liaqat unpacks a deep question facing Pakistani society, politics or the economy, by talking to an expert who spends their time working on that question.
2022-08-2601 min
InequaliTalksEpisode 4: Do Politicians Know about what Citizens Prefer? -- with Asad LiaqatDo politicians know enough about voters to adequately represent them? Are they responsive to new information about their constituency? How does it affect the representation of marginalized groups?
Asad Liaqat presents the results of large experiment he conducted on politicians in Pakistan, and reveals large information asymmetries in politics.
Recommendations:
"Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity" by Katherine Boo
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11869272-behind-the-beautiful-forevers
Paper:
"No Representation without Information: Politician Responsiveness to Citizen Preferences" by Asad Liaqat
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/asadliaqat/files/jmp...
2020-09-1621 min