3 Day Workshop on: “Applied Research in Multidisciplinary Economics and Multidimensional Wellbeing in Pakistan” (8-10 July, 2019)

The workshop on Applied Research in Multidisciplinary Economics and Multidimensional Wellbeing in Pakistan was organized in joint collaboration of School of Economics, Quaid-e-Azam University, Kashmir Institute of Economics, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Higher Education Commission with the association of Applied Economics Research Centre. The workshop was designed around to develop better and deeper understanding of Divine Economics both theoretically and empirically.

Prof. Dr. Samina Khalil, Director AERC, University of Karachi started off by welcoming all guest speakers of the workshop and deliberate upon the theme of the workshop by saying that the definition of Multidisciplinary economics in literature is that it  deliberately uses the insights and approaches of other disciplines and examines what consequences their contributions have for existing economic methods, theories and solutions to economic problems.

Dr. Khalil also said that multidisciplinary economists should be at home in their own discipline and meet the high international standards of economic teaching and research that the discipline has developed, but at the same time they should be able to recognize the limits of economics and be willing to open up new horizons by following new, discipline-transcending paths on which new insights into the analysis and solutions of economic problems can be found in collaboration with representatives of other disciplines. As a result of this search, economic methods and theories may have to be adjusted in such a way that they take insights from other disciplines into account. They may even have to be replaced by methods and theories that have been developed by other disciplines.

Prof. Dr. Syed Nisar Hamdani, Professor of Economics and Director Kashmir Institute of Economics, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and pioneer of Divine Economics along with his team which included Dr. Tariq Majeed, Associate Professor Quaid-i-Azam University, Dr. Miraj-ul Haq, Assistant Professor International Islamic University, Dr. Imtiaz Subhani, DG ORIC Ilma University, Dr. Jamil Hasan Kazmi, Meritorious Professor University of Karachi and Mr. Ali Abidi from Quaid-i-Azam University were the keynote speakers for the 3-day workshop at the Centre.

The distinguished panel ranges their discussion from Philosophy and Framework for Multi-disciplinary research in Divine Economics to Empirical applications of new multi-dimensional Divine Wellbeing Index using fresh data of Divine Economics Survey – 2017. The discussion also catered Data Visualization of Divine Economics Survey – 2017 [Wellbeing], Econometric Modeling for Divine Economics, Economic Modeling in Divine Framework [Role of Religiosity and Values in Economy] and Divine Economics Survey Series Data Sets for Multi-disciplinary Economics.

Prof. Dr. Syed Nisar Hamdani, inaugurated Divine Wellbeing Calculator from the forum of Applied Economics Research Centre on the last day of the workshop. The calculator is exclusively designed to measure the level of divine wellbeing of an individual based on the series of questions related to personal routine of workshop. The calculator would identify the areas of improvement and would lead the users to keep track of the changes in his practices and behaviors. The formal application of Divine Wellbeing Calculator will be shortly launched on Google Play Store and Apple Play Store.