Economic Performance and Human Development: A Critical Examination on SAARC Region

Authors: 
Aravind M
JEL codes: 
B41 - Economic Methodology, C01 - Econometrics, C23 - Models with Panel Data; Longitudinal Data; Spatial Time Series.
Abstract: 
The impact of economic performance on human development has become a topic of debate in the recent times. For the past few years the member nations of SAARC region reported to have an unprecedented economic growth. But the human development in this region seems to be abysmal. This paper is aiming to assess the impact of economic performance of SAARC nations on its human development. The study extensively covers the macro economic data and the human development index (HDI) of the SAARC nations from 1990 to 2015. The Random effects (RE) model of panel regression analysis confirmed that GDP and GDP per capita can influence human development of these nations whereas the economic growth do not have any significant impact on human development at 1% and 5% levels of significance. The study is also intended to suggest numerous policy measures for enhancing the human development of this region.
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