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Knowing whether poverty rates converge within a country matters for regional development policy and for understanding growth processes. In this paper, we use five poverty measures, calculated biennially from 2004 to 2014 for 100 districts in Pakistan, to test for poverty convergence. Spatial autoregressive models are used to capture spatial spillovers. Conventional money‐metric poverty measures, such as the headcount index and poverty gap index, show unconditional convergence, and the convergence is more apparent if indirect impacts from spillovers are accounted for. In contrast, two multidimensional poverty indices show no convergence and no indirect impacts from spatial spillovers. Catch‐up growth in initially poorer areas is apparent with the money‐metric poverty measures traditionally used in Pakistan but not with the types of multidimensional poverty measures used officially since 2015. This difference in apparent poverty convergence could affect regional development policy choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An equitable distribution of economic benefits from the recent growth of e‐commerce in Pakistan requires inclusive adoption of formal digital marketplaces. The available literature and focused discussions reveal that most women‐led businesses rely on informal e‐commerce managed through social media applications and have incomplete and often incorrect information on the benefits and choices related to the formal platforms. To inform and motivate women‐led micro, small and medium enterprises, this study deploys an information treatment through a randomised control trial of 300 women entrepreneurs in large urban centres of Pakistan. Results show that women entrepreneurs were responsive to the information, as the treated businesses were 10 percentage points more likely to opt for formal e‐commerce than the control group. The study is policy relevant as the methodology allows simple and inexpensive replication to scale up the treatment for better business growth for women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]