Rate My Professor Iftikhar Ahmad

Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad serves as Director of the PIDE School of Economics and Associate Professor at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) in Islamabad. He earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Kent, United Kingdom. With over 18 years of research and teaching experience, Dr. Ahmad has authored more than 26 publications in reputable journals. He has led research studies in collaboration with international organizations such as the World Bank, UNDP, IFPRI in partnership with the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, IUCN, and the Higher Education Commission (HEC). Dr. Ahmad has taught and supervised students at the postgraduate level. Previously, he held positions as Executive Director of the Centre of Excellence for CPEC and Head of the PIDE School of Public Policy. He also served as Secretary of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE) for the 36th and 37th International Conferences from 2022 to 2024.

Dr. Ahmad's primary research areas include governance, public policy, National Finance Commission (NFC), fiscal federalism, and local governance. His secondary interests encompass special economic zones (SEZs), sustainable development goals (SDGs), environmental issues, conflict, and terrorism, with regional focus on China regarding SEZs and India on resource distribution mechanisms. Key publications include 'A Critical Path to Fiscal Federalism: Policy Imperatives for the NFC Award Remake' (2026), 'Fiscal Resource Distribution: Criteria, Incentives and Institutional Mechanism. A Comparison between Neighbors' (2025), 'Resource Distribution Mechanism in Pakistan: A Critical Review' (2025), 'Assessing Fiscal Resource Distribution in Pakistan - The NFC Awards' (2024), 'Fiscal Federalism in Pakistan: Need for a Revisit' (2024), 'Local Government Reforms: An Overview' (2024), 'SME Sector in Pakistan: Mapping the Policy Framework, Opportunities and Constraints' (2022), 'Pakistan’s Income Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022 aka “Industrial Policy Package”' (2022), 'Fiscal Federalism' (2021), and 'Endurance or Submission: How Terrorism Frame Households’ Time Allocation?' (2021). His contributions inform policy debates on fiscal resource distribution and economic development in Pakistan.