When I started my research in the early seventies, the existing work on Pakistan's industrial growth had passed through two distinct stages. The first covered the period till the mid sixties when Pakistan was built up as a success story of private enterprise. The second followed the collapse of the Ayub government in the late sixties and the focus of attention shifted towards the broader questions of the inequalities which the growth strategy had generated and, specifically in the industrial sector, the concentration of industrial power – the so-called ‘twenty-two families’ – received great prominence. I felt that there was considerable need to study the behaviour of private industrial investment for the entire period of the sixties and to produce an analysis of investment behaviour which took into account the institutional features of the economy. The study was completed in Spring 1977 and only minor alterations have been made to the original text.

In carrying out this study, I have received generous help from a large number of people. First and foremost I owe a special debt to Professor R. R. Neild, for his untiring and constructive criticisms throughout the research and especially his assistance in exposition and presentation. I would like to thank him for both the keen interest he has taken and the patience and understanding he has shown throughout the period of this study. I am especially grateful to Dr R. P. Smith, M. A. King and Dr. B. McCormick for reading the drafts of the chapters on investment behaviour (Chapter 5, 6 and 7) and suggesting specific improvements concerning estimation techniques. The work as it stands, however, including any errors, omissions or inconsistencies is entirely my own responsibility.