Poverty, inflation and economic growth: empirical evidence from Pakistan

This study aims to investigate the role of economic growth and inflation in explaining the prevalence of poverty in Pakistan. ARDL bound testing approach to co-integration confirms the existence of long run relationship among the variables of poverty, economic growth, inflation, investment and trade openness over the period of 1972-2008. Empirical results show that economic growth and investment have negative and inflation has positive impact on poverty. The effect of trade openness on poverty is insignificant in this study. The short run analysis reveals that economic growth has negative and inflation has positive impact on poverty whereas the role of investment and trade openness in poverty reduction in short run is not significant.Poverty, Inflation, Economic Grovvth, Pakistan, Macroeconomic Policy, Welfare, Trade Openness

The Structure and Behavior of Pakistan\u27s Imports from Selected Asian Countries: An Application of Gravity Model

This paper critically analyzes Pakistan’s import policy during 1990s and explores the determinants of bilateral import flows between Pakistan and selected Asian countries (SAC) in recent past. Much research on international trade patterns focuses on primitive causes of trade such as differences in national factor endowments, preferences and technologies but we have focused on macroeconomic determinants to overcome the problems of trade deficit. It contains the policy issues which may be helpful for policy makers of other developing countries facing same conditions. A gravity model of international trade is empirically tested with the help of generalized least square (GLS) method of estimation for panel data. Empirical results reveal that income, exchange rate and openness of SAC economies are contributing factor of Pakistan’s import flows. There is convincing evidence that current import flows are positively correlated with previous year whereas infrastructural bottlenecks have negative impact on Pakistan’s import flows

An analysis of different approaches to women empowerment: a case study of Pakistan

Women empowerment has attracted the attention of researchers as an active area of research since 1980s. It can be viewed as an ultimate end as well as a mean to achieve other development goals. The present study is an attempt to investigate how consciousness /sensitization of women about their rights, economic empowerment of women and women’s overall development can be helpful in achieving the goal of women’s empowerment. The study uses data for the period of 1996 to 2009 for Pakistan. Empirical results reveal that consciousness of women about their rights, economic empowerment of women and women’s overall development have positive and significant effect on women’s empowerment as measured by Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) index. Granger Causality Test confirms the existence of bi-directional causality between women’s overall development and women’s empowerment. A unidirectional causality exists between sensitization of women and women’s empowerment

The Nexus between Higher Education and Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation for Pakistan

The study investigates the role of higher education in economic growth for Pakistan between 1972 and 2005 using the application of Johansen Cointegration and Toda & Yamamoto (1995) Causality approach in Vector Autoregressive (VAR) framework. It examines whether higher education affect long run economic growth in Pakistan. The empirical analysis reveals that there is a long run relationship between economic growth and higher education, which suggests that these variables are necessary for each other. The empirical results of causality test indicate that there exists a unidirectional causality running from economic growth to higher education and no other direction of causality found between these variables

Gender inequality and economic growth: a time series analysis for Pakistan

This paper attempts to analyze the impact of gender inequality on economic growth of Pakistan. An annual time series data for the period of 1972-2009 has been used in this study. We have regressed growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita on labour force growth, investment, trade openness and a composite index of gender inequality. The results reveal that labour force growth, investment and trade openness have statistically significant and positive impact whereas gender inequality has a significant and negative effect on economic growth of Pakistan

Gender inequality and economic growth: a time series analysis for Pakistan

This paper attempts to analyze the impact of gender inequality on economic growth of Pakistan. An annual time series data for the period of 1972-2009 has been used in this study. We have regressed growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita on labour force growth, investment, trade openness and a composite index of gender inequality. The results reveal that labour force growth, investment and trade openness have statistically significant and positive impact whereas gender inequality has a significant and negative effect on economic growth of Pakistan

Physical infrastructure and economic development in Pakistan

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between physical infrastructure and economic development of Pakistan. A composite index of physical infrastructure has been constructed through Principal Component Analysis. This has been done by taking into account three different dimensions of infrastructure i.e. transportation infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and telecommunication infrastructure. Johansen Co-integration Technique has been applied to confirm the existence of co-integration among the variables of our interest. The empirical analysis shows that co-integration exists among the variables of economic development, employed labour force, gross private fixed capital formation and physical infrastructure. The variables of employed labour force, gross private fixed capital formation and physical infrastructure have statistically significant and positive effect on economic development of Pakistan

Poverty, inflation and economic growth: empirical evidence from Pakistan

This study aims to investigate the role of economic growth and inflation in explaining the prevalence of poverty in Pakistan. ARDL bound testing approach to co-integration confirms the existence of long run relationship among the variables of poverty, economic growth, inflation, investment and trade openness over the period of 1972-2008. Empirical results show that economic growth and investment have negative and inflation has positive impact on poverty. The effect of trade openness on poverty is insignificant in this study. The short run analysis reveals that economic growth has negative and inflation has positive impact on poverty whereas the role of investment and trade openness in poverty reduction in short run is not significant

Application of Endogenous Growth Model to the Economy of Pakistan: A Cointegration Approach

During the last few decades, governments of developing countries have increasingly viewed foreign direct investment (FDIs) as a catalyst for economic growth. This study investigates the impact of FDI on economic growth of Pakistan by using Endogenous Growth Model. Out of a number of variables affecting economic growth, few have been taken into our model e.g. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Domestic Savings, Employed Labour Force, Capital Formation, Human Capital Index and Balance of Trade. The study examines the causality among economic Growth and all variables mentioned above over the period 1972-2005 using Johansen‟s maximum likelihood co-integration test and multivariate Granger causality test developed by Yamamoto and Toda (1995). The results of Granger causality indicated that in the short run, economic growth is caused by FDIs, domestic savings, human capital index, employed labour force and balance of trade

Does trust matter for economic growth and human development? Empirical evidence from a panel of countries

Trust among individuals of a society is an important dimension of social capital and may have different economic and development implications. The present study is an attempt to investigate the relationship of trust with economic growth and human development. It is unique in at least two different aspects. Firstly, it has used an index for quantifying trust which may be more comprehensive measure as compared with already used measures of trust by different research studies. The index has been constructed by taking into account different variables related with interpersonal safety and trust. Both perception-based as well as actionable indicators have been used in the construction of the index which adds to its reliability and usefulness. Secondly, the study has used paneldata for a large set of countries of the world. Panel-data framework has certain advantages over cross-country regression. Coverage of our data-set for large number of countries of the world also adds to the authenticity of our analysis. Our findings suggest that trust is not significantly associated with economic growth. However, it shows a positive and significant effect on human development. Hence, instead of having direct effect on economic growth, trust may affect economic growth indirectly through its positive effects on human development. The study will be helpful in enhancing the understanding regarding the role of trust in determining economic growth and human development