'We earn only for you': Structural adjustment and rural markets in Northern Pakistan

This paper argues that the structural adjustment programme which has been underway in Pakistan since the 1980s had little impact upon the operation of rural markets in the North-West Frontier Province. It is possible to distinguish two basic categories of agricultural commodity chains in the area. First, there are those agricultural commodity chains which contain rural markets which are not competitive. Second, there are those agricultural commodity chains containing rural markets which exhibit comparatively greater competitiveness. In both cases, it is demonstrated that the impact of structural adjustment upon the operation of both the agricultural commodity chains and the rural markets contained within these chains appears to be minimal. Adjustment has not addressed the hierarchical structure of rural markets, and has not addressed the core issue involved in understanding the capacity of markets to allocate resources: the monopoly power of capital.