Pakistan abandoned migration-development research in favor of aid-seeking studies

Evidence

In the 1980s, an important scholarly literature developed on the e√ects of migration on economic development throughout Pakistan that made direct policy suggestions to improve and facilitate labor migration (Arif and Irfan 1997; Azam 1995; Irfan 1986; Kazi 1989). This state-sponsored research, however, was gradually abandoned in favor of studies aimed to procure foreign economic aid to alleviate povery.∞∞ Simultaneously, labor recruiting in Pakistan was privatized—that is, handed over to independent employment agencies. As the process of international migration expanded and normalized, transnational migrants emerged as a complex population with shifting class status and positions. — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 510

Categorization

• QUESTION: What did the abandoned 1980s policy research actually recommend, and did privatization of labor recruiting follow directly from the aid-driven research shift?