Press Releases and Briefings

March 25, 2011 

Lahore September 20, 2010: This year’s report, released today in Pakistan by the Alternate Solutions Institute, shows that economic freedom experienced its first global downturn in a quarter century, with the average score falling to 6.67 in 2008 (the most recent year for which data is available) from 6.74 in 2007. Of the 123 countries with economic freedom rankings dating back to 1980, 88 (71.5 per cent) saw their rankings decrease while only 35 (28.5 per cent) recorded increases.

Lahore September 01, 2010: A study “Seven Myths About Green Jobs,” published in association with more than two dozens think tanks from all over the world, including the Alternate Solutions Institute from Pakistan, concludes that Green Jobs are not that Green as is being claimed by the Green politicians and advocates. The study reveals the hidden costs of so-called “green investments,” bringing a key policy of various governments into question. The study shows that subsidizing “green jobs” wastes resources and reduces growth without necessarily protecting the environment.

International Property Rights Index 2010 released

Pakistan ranks at 104th out of 125 countries

Nepal better than Pakistan; India at 53; Bangladesh consistently at the bottom

In Gender Equality for property rights, Pakistan ranks 68 out of 80 countries

Piracy accounts for the entire music market in Pakistan

Lahore February 23, 2010: Alternate Solutions Institute is proud to announce the release of the 2010 International Property Rights Index (IRPI) today, which measures the intellectual and physical property rights of 125 nations representing 97 per cent of the world’s GDP. This year, 62 international organizations, including Alternate Solutions Institute, partnered with the Property Rights Alliance in Washington, DC and its Hernando de Soto Fellowship program to produce the 4th annual IPRI.

Alternate Solutions Institute’s Urdu website, Hum-Azad.org goes online today 

Punjab Education Foundation’s Education Voucher Scheme in Lahore benefiting disadvantaged families

Lahore November 7, 2009: An independent study of the Education Voucher Scheme conceived and implemented by Punjab Education Foundation in under-developed areas of Lahore shows that Milton Friedman’s idea of education voucher has been picked up and applied in its true spirit, and finds the Scheme satisfactorily working and producing desired results in Pakistan. 

Lahore September 14, 2009: Pakistan ranked 110 out of 141 countries this year, after ranking 104 (out of 141 countries) in the last year’s report. In 2008 Report Pakistan scored 6.05 points out of 10; while this year its overall scored fell to 6.01. The areas that caused a decline in Pakistan’s overall performance are: legal structure and security of property rights; access to sound money; and freedom to trade internationally. The areas in which Pakistan slightly improved are: size of government where its score changed from 7.01 to 7.1; and regulation of credit, labor, and business where its overall scored improved to 6.6 from 6.56.

Lahore May 25, 2009: Alternate Solutions Institute, first free market think tank of Pakistan, has launched and successfully completed the first session of its ambitious project, The Bases of Economic Freedom: A course for the beginners. The course aims at teaching and promoting the virtues of fundamental individual rights and economic freedom. The first ever batch consisting of 21 participants was selected from students, teachers, activists and young professionals who were brought to Ayubia for 5 days’ activities.

 Lahore April 3, 2009: The fundamental rights given in the 1973 constitution be treated as core values and made inviolable. This was demanded in a meeting organized yesterday in a local hotel by the Alternate Solutions Institute, first free market think tank of Pakistan. The meeting was attended by students from various institutions and young people in a large number. At this occasion the Institute formally launched its “Sign the Charter of Liberty Campaign.”