Conference Overview

Pathways to Development is a multidisciplinary conference that brings together empirical and historical research by economists, political scientists, sociologists, legal and constitutional scholars, and law and policy reform experts, within and outside Pakistan, to document and describe the scale of challenges facing Pakistan and to organize discourse about ways in which these can be mitigated.

G²LM|LIC / Path2Dev / BREAD Conference on Development Economics
September 11–13, 2025 | Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore, Pakistan

Path2Dev is pleased to co-organize the upcoming G²LM|LIC / Path2Dev / BREAD Conference on Development Economics, taking place from September 11–13, 2025, at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Lahore, Pakistan.

The BREAD Conference has long served as a leading forum for advancing rigorous empirical research in development economics. It brings together a global community of scholars working on critical issues of poverty, inequality, growth, and institutional change, creating space for new ideas, collaborations, and policy engagement across regions and disciplines.

This year’s conference, jointly organized by the IZA/FCDO Gender, Growth and Labor Markets in Low-Income Countries Programme (G²LM|LIC), the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), and Pathways to Development (Path2Dev), will feature both an academic program and a dedicated one-day policy conference. Through paper presentations and panel discussions, participants will engage with research that examines how political economy, structural inequality, education, labor markets, health systems, and financial inclusion shape development outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.

A special mentorship opportunity for junior researchers based in South Asia, led by BREAD fellows and affiliates, will also run alongside the event, with the aim of supporting early-stage research and strengthening the pipeline of development economists from the region.

This conference brings together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to engage with the evolving landscape of development economics. With a focus on low- and middle-income countries, it explores how structural inequality, institutional arrangements, and historical context shape economic and social outcomes. Through paper presentations and panel sessions on labor, finance, education, health, and governance, the conference highlights research that is empirically rigorous and conceptually reflective, while opening space for critical engagement with the assumptions and priorities that guide the field. At its core, the conference invites participants to think more carefully about what inclusive and context-sensitive development can and should look like.