R O U N D 1 C A S E

Background
Bangladesh’s marvelous economic growth has been incapable to create jobs
proportionally over the past decade, raising questions about the significance of the
growth for a great section of the population.

Besides, female participation in the labor force shriveled in the last nine years,
particularly in rural areas, according to a government research on employment,
productivity and sectoral investment in Bangladesh. The number of unemployed
females increased to 1.2 million in 2018 from 1 million in 2010, while the number of
females in employment dropped to 16 million last year from 16.2 million in 2010.

Between fiscal 2005-06 and 2009-10, the country’s employment elasticity was 0.55. It
plummeted to 0.25 between fiscal 2010-11 and 2017-18, when the economy averaged
6.6 percent GDP growth.

In case of agriculture, the employment elasticity is lower than 1, demonstrating that

employment generation is not very sensitive to growth. Even with sustained expansion
in agricultural activities, employment in agriculture dropped from 26.2 million in 2010
to 25 million in 2018 while employment in services augmented from 19.8 million to 23.8
million respectively.
The study accredits the degeneration of two simultaneous phenomena: the structural
transformation in the economy from agriculture to industrial sector, and industrial
sector being more capital intensive.

Something to Ponder Upon

 What programs should the government implement in order to improve the

employment elasticity regarding the agricultural industry? Provide
i) A cost-benefit analysis of the application of capital-intensive methods on
industrial competitiveness.
ii) Effect on economic growth and other developmental indicators as a
consequence of implementing/not implementing this particular mandate.
 How can the government shrink the barriers to female labor participation rate?

Regardless of the fact that Bangladesh made praiseworthy development in gross-

enrolment in primary education for both genders, the country is certainly lagging
behind in ensuring quality education for all. There are some imperative indicators
related to the quality educational frame which include “current portion of trained
teachers in entire teachers in primary education” and “pupil-teacher ratio in primary
education”. Throughout the years 2010-2015, in the case of trained teachers,
Bangladesh (53 per cent) performed very poorly compared to India (77 per cent),
Pakistan (83 per cent), Sri Lanka (79 per cent), Malaysia (97 per cent), Thailand (100
per cent) and Vietnam (100 per cent). In the instance of pupil-teacher ratio, though
Bangladesh (39.8) performed better than Pakistan (42.8), it performed worse than India
(32.5), Sri Lanka (23.8), Malaysia (11.9), Thailand (16.1) and Vietnam (19.4).

Something to Think About

What policies should the government take in order to advance the educational
sector in Bangladesh? Give the affected stakeholder groups from implementation,
pertinent to your argument.
In spite of the population growth rate has come down to 1.2 percent per annum in 2017,
the country remains one of the most densely inhabited countries in the world. This
urbanization has been stimulated by the structural changes in the rural economy
causing the amplified commercialization of the agriculture sector and prevalent rural
poverty. But this rapid urbanization has caused elevated urban poverty with extremely
poor living conditions for these rural migrants and also severe urban cramming.

The Gini coefficient or Gini index for Bangladesh fluctuated around the trend line during
the above-mentioned period, but the overall trend was downward declining from 48.9
in 2000 to 31.5 in 2010 indicating declining income inequality.

But a more apparent picture of income distribution arose when one looked at the
income distribution amid the poorest 10 percent and the richest 10 percent. The picture
that emerged was: the income share of the poorest 10 percent was 3.85 percent
compared to 26.92 percent for the wealthiest 10 percent in Bangladesh. As a result,
the income share held by the highest 20 percent was 41.48 percent. This was clearly
revealing a situation where the very little of the benefits of economic growth were
trickling down to the very poor, the people who needed it the most.

Something to Seriously Consider

What polices can the government adopt to ensure a sustainable reduction in income
inequality?
 GUIDELINES

 Participants are requested to read the case carefully and provide precise solution
abstract within 1000 words.

 Participants can exceed the word limit by maximum 50 words. Writing over 50 extra
words could result in penalty or even disqualification at the discretion of the
organizers.

 The Deadline for submission is Friday, 29th of November, 11:59 PM. Submissions
past the deadline will be penalized or disqualified at the discretion of the
organizers.

 The solution could submitted in a word document (.docx) and in no other formats.

 The Solution file must be uploaded at the Google Form provided in the link below.
Submission Link: https://forms.gle/os2tavCdt4h9RcHBA

 The solution file should be named in the following manner: EP5_Team Name_Team
Leader’s Name, for e.g. EP5_Team Gaea_Chowdhury Rafee.

 No team will be allowed to mention the name of their respective university

anywhere in the submission. Any mention or indication of the University name in the
submission may result in disqualification.

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submissions from any unregistered teams will be received and considered.

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