Examining the nexus of infrastructure development and economic growth: Evidence from SAARC countries
-
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.22(4).2024.49
-
Article InfoVolume 22 2024, Issue #4, pp. 649-657
- 28 Views
-
5 Downloads
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This study investigates the interconnected roles of infrastructure development, financial growth, and economic growth in SAARC nations. Using principal component analysis, the paper develops a composite infrastructure development index, which integrates factors such as access to electricity, telecommunications, air transport, and agricultural land use. This index serves as a comprehensive measure to assess and compare infrastructural progress across the region. Econometric analyses, including Pedroni’s and Kao’s cointegration tests, reveal long-term associations between the studied variables. The results demonstrate a bidirectional relationship between trade openness and GDP growth in the short term, as well as unidirectional influences from inflation to financial development and from infrastructure development to inflation. However, findings vary across SAARC countries, reflecting their diverse economic structures and development stages. Notably, Afghanistan is excluded due to data limitations, emphasizing the region-specific focus of the results. The study highlights the critical role of targeted infrastructure investment and financial sector reforms in fostering sustainable economic growth. Policymakers are encouraged to consider these findings when designing synchronized public and private sector initiatives to bridge development gaps. By offering detailed insights into region-specific dynamics, this study enriches understanding of the complex interplay between infrastructure, finance, and economic growth in emerging economies.
- Keywords
-
JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)H54, O18, O40, F43
-
References31
-
Tables6
-
Figures0
-
- Table 1. Definition of variables
- Table 2. PCA for infrastructure development index
- Table 3. Panel unit root test results
- Table 4. Results of cointegration tests
- Table 5. Results of cointegrating regression
- Table 6. Findings of panel causality test
-
- Aghion, P., & Durlauf, S. N. (2006). Handbook of economic growth (1st ed.). North-Holland.
- Alam, M. S., Rabbani, M. R., Tausif, M. R., & Abey, J. (2021). Banks’ performance and economic growth in India: A panel cointegration analysis. Economies, 9(1), Article 38.
- Aschauer, D. A. (1989). Is public expenditure productive? Journal of Monetary Economics, 23(2), 177-200.
- Audi, M., Ali, A., & Hamadeh, H. F. (2022). Nexus among innovations, financial development and economic growth in developing countries. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, 17(4).
- Beck, T., Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Merrouche, O. (2013). Islamic vs. conventional banking: Business model, efficiency and stability. Journal of Banking & Finance, 37(2), 433-447.
- Bishwakarma, J. K., & Hu, Z. (2022). Problems and prospects for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Politics & Policy, 50(1), 154-179.
- Calderón, C., & Luis, S. (2004). The effects of infrastructure development on growth and income distribution (Policy Research Working Paper No. 3400). World Bank.
- Canning, D., & Pedroni, P. (2008). Infrastructure long-run economic growth and causality test for cointegrated panels. Manchester School, 76(5), 504-527.
- Deidda, L., & Fattouh, B. (2002). Non-linearity between finance and growth. Economics Letters, 74(3), 339-345.
- Ductor, L., & Grechyna, D. (2015). Financial development, real sector, and economic growth. International Review of Economics & Finance, 37, 393-405.
- Engle, R. F., & Granger, C. W. J. (1987). Cointegration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing. Econometrica, 55(2), 251-276.
- Fernández, A., & Tamayo, C. E. (2017). From institutions to financial development and economic growth: What are the links? Journal of Economic Surveys, 31(1), 17-57.
- Greenwood, J., & Jovanovic, B. (1990). Financial development, growth, and the distribution of income. Journal of Political Economy, 98(5), 1076-1107.
- Gurley, J. G., & Shaw, E. S. (1955). Financial aspects of economic development. The American Economic Review, 45(4), 515-538.
- Kao, C. (1999). Spurious regression and residual-based tests for cointegration in panel data. Journal of Econometrics, 90(1), 1-44.
- Maddala, G. S., & Wu, S. (1999). A comparative study of unit root tests with panel data and a new simple test. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 61(S1), 631-652.
- Madhur, S. (2023). SAARC – Time to change. Indian Public Policy Review, 4(2), 75-91.
- Neerza, N., & Tripathi, V. (2019). Determinants of private equity investment across sectors in India. Journal of Advances in Management Research, 16(4), 513-536.
- Odhiambo, N. (2008). Financial development in Kenya: A dynamic test of the finance-led growth hypothesis. Economic Issues Journal Articles, 13(2), 21-36.
- Ojha, R., & Vrat, P. (2017). Integrated impact of highway infrastructure, labour productivity and circular material consumption on Indian manufacturing growth: A system dynamics perspective. Journal of Advances in Management Research, 14(4), 527-542.
- Pedroni, P. (1999). Critical values for cointegration tests in heterogeneous panels with multiple regressors. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 61(s1), 653-670.
- Pradhan, R. P., Arvin, M. B., & Hall, J. H. (2016). Economic growth, development of telecommunications infrastructure, and financial development in Asia, 1991–2012. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 59, 25-38.
- Romp, W., & de Haan, J. (2007). Public capital and economic growth: A critical survey. Perspectives on Economic Policy, 8(S1), 6-52.
- Rousseau, P. L., & Wachtel, P. (2011). What is happening to the impact of financial deepening on economic growth? Economic Inquiry, 49(1), 276-288.
- Sarania, R. (2021). Interactions among infrastructure, trade openness, foreign direct investments and economic growth in India. Journal of Infrastructure Development, 13(1), 21-43.
- Svirydzenka, K. (2016). Introducing a new broad-based index of financial development (IMF Working Paper No. 2016/005).
- Tripathi, P. M., Chotia, V., Solanki, U., Meena, R., & Khandelwal, V. (2022). Economic value added research: Mapping thematic structure and research trends. Risks, 11(1), Article 9.
- Valickova, P., Havranek, T., & Horvath, R. (2014). Financial development and economic growth: A meta-analysis. Journal of Economic Surveys, 29(3), 506-526.
- Verma, A., & Giri, A. K. (2020). ICT diffusion, financial development, and economic growth: Panel evidence from SAARC countries. Journal of Public Affairs, 22(3), Article e2557.
- World Bank. (2020). Infrastructure in Asia and the Pacific: Road transport, electricity, and water and sanitation services in East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands.
- Xu, Z. (2000). Financial development, investment, and economic growth. Economic Inquiry, 38(2), 331-344.