Shahid Javed Burki is a prominent professional economist. In 1974, he joined the World Bank as Senior Economist and served as Vice-President of the organization until he took early retirement in 1999. He held several senior executive positions at the World Bank and was a de facto Finance Minister of Pakistan on a caretaker basis (1996–7). He writes a weekly column for The Express Tribune, and contributed to the op-ed pages of the Financial Times, London, and The Indian Express, Delhi. He is the author/editor of several books on Pakistan, including: Pakistan Under Bhutto (1980); Pakistan under the Military: Eleven Years of Zia Ul-Haq (with Craig Baxter, 1991); Pakistan: Fifty Years of Nationhood (1999); A Historical Dictionary of Pakistan (1999); and Changing Perceptions, Altered Reality: Pakistan’s Economy under Musharraf, 1999–2006 (2007). Presently, Burki is Chairman, Advisory Board of the Burki Institute of Public Policy, Lahore, Pakistan.