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In this paper, we have explored the relationship between three key indicators of the health of any economy, namely, human development index (HDI), foreign direct investment (FDI) and gross domestic product (GDP). Three alternative models were assessed in the study to investigate the dynamics of the cause and effect relationship between the three variables. Thirty countries were selected for the purpose of the study on the basis of a positive change in their HDI ranks from 2012 to 2017. Further, the countries were categorized into countries with very high, high, medium and low HDI ranks. Annual FDI, HDI and GDP data for the period from 1990 through 2016 were used to investigate the nature of the relationship among the selected variables. The proposed models testing the outcome-explanatory variable relationship between FDI, HDI, and GDP were tested using cointegrating regression with panel dynamic least square model (DOLS) and panel fully modified least square model (FMOLS). The findings of the study show that HDI and FDI are the statistically significant variables that positively impact the changes in GDP. Further, the impact of HDI is of larger magnitude than FDI. However, GDP and FDI were not found to exert any statistically significant impact on HDI for the period under the study. Similarly, HDI and GDP were also not found to exert any significant impact on FDI. Before applying DOLS and FMOLS, stationarity was confirmed using five panel unit root tests, namely, LLC, IPS, Fisher-type tests using ADF and PP and Hadri. Thereafter, Pedroni residual cointegration test and Kao residual cointegration test were used to confirm the existence of cointegration among the variables, which is a necessary condition for applying DOLS and FMOLS. The study has key implications for the policymakers in search of models and plans to boost GDPs of their respective countries. Since HDI exerts more than proportionate positive impact on GDP, governments can focus on improving the three components of HDI, namely, life expectancy, adult literacy and education enrolment to promote economic growth. Further, since FDI exerts a positive impact on GDP, policymakers can strategize to make more friendly policies to attract foreign investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between economic growth and energy is a widely researched topic in the world of economics and there are quite many studies on the relationship between energy and sectoral output; however, to the best of our knowledge there have been none in the context of Bangladesh. This paper examines the causal relationship between energy consumption and output growth of Bangladesh both at aggregate and sectoral level using the annual data from 1980 to 2014. For the purpose of our study we have used the GDP at constant local currency as an indicator of economic growth while energy use has been used as a proxy for energy consumption. These variables have been taken from World Development Indicator (WDI) 2015 published by World Bank and EViews 7.0 has been used to run the tests in this study. To test our data for stationarity, we have run two tests which are the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test and the Phillips-Perron (PP) test. Then to test for cointegration and causality between the variables, we used the Johansen cointegration method and the Granger Causality tests respectively. We find the variables to be stationary after running both the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test and Phillips-Perron (PP) test. Using the Johansen cointegration method, we find that all the variables are cointegrated. Granger Causality tests reveal that at the aggregate level there is unidirectional causality running from GDP to energy consumption. Similarly, at the sectoral levels, there is unidirectional causality running from agricultural, industrial and services sector output to energy consumption. However, Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) test observes no causality between energy consumption and output at the macro level and at the sectoral level in the short run. Thus we can conclude that GDP or sectoral output is not energy dependent in Bangladesh and our findings are also consistent with the conservation hypothesis. Moreover, our short run results are consistent with the neutrality hypothesis. This further strengthens our conclusion that the economic growth of Bangladesh is not energy dependent. These results have important implications for policy as energy conservation policies can be applied in Bangladesh without hurting growth. Furthermore, it is evident that implementing subsidies in the energy sector will not contribute in achieving growth and cost reflective pricing policy would be more effective in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, the government of Bangladesh should invest in efficient energy production and utilize the various energy sources available to Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between political freedom and economic growth is considered very critical in political economics. On the one hand, political freedom is found to be positively correlated with economic growth (Lipset 1993; Przeworski and Limongi 1993; Barro 1997; Minier 1998; and Przeworski 2004). On the other hand, a number of high growing countries experienced low political rights such as: China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Besides, several democratic countries faced low economic growth such as: Greece and Spain (Arat 1988; Vanhanen 1990; Heo and Tan 2001). This study aims at examining the impact of political freedom on economic growth. Since, the literature covered three contradictory findings regarding the main driver of economic growth, an unbalanced panel of dataset running from 1970 to 2012 and spanning 92 (high and low income countries) was adopted to address our research question. The data was retrieved from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI) and the Global Development Finance (GDF) databases. Furthermore, classification of countries political freedom was derived from the Transparency International. This study considered the following factors as the main determinants of growth: population growth rate, mortality rate, fertility rate, human capital, government expenditures, foreign direct investment, culture and political risk. In addition, the significance of the adopted variables was compared between two models: Model 1 (high political rights) and Model 2 (low political rights). Through comparing results based on income level, it is revealed that there are more differences between countries. Countries with high political rights (even with different income levels) show that all factors have similar effect on economic growth except the fertility rate. Conversely, countries with low political rights show different results. The growth rate of population is statistically significant in high income countries but not significant in low income ones. In contrast, mortality rate is not significant in high income countries but highly significant in low income countries. Likewise, the fertility rate is statistically significant in countries with high income but not significant in countries with low income. Finally, fiscal policy (government expenditures) does not seem to be effective in both groups. In summary, regardless of the income level, the lack of political rights makes both the fiscal policy and the foreign direct investment invaluable for economic growth. Contrary to Prescott (2014), Taylor (2014), and Summers (2014), this paper concludes that foreign investors prefer high political freedom over internal policies within a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite plausible theoretical grounds for presuming a positive relationship between foreign direct investment inflows (FDI) and economic growth, existing empirical evidence on this nexus is inconclusive. In an effort to add to the empirical literature, this paper estimates the relationship between FDI and the rate of growth of GDP using a stochastic frontier model and employing panel data covering 45 countries over the period 1997 to 2004. We find that FDI inflows exert a positive impact on economic growth only in the presence of a highly skilled labour; corruption has a negative impact on economic growth; and trade openness increases economic growth by means of efficiency gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of interest rate reforms on financial deepening and economic growth in Kenya, using two models: the financial deepening model and the dynamic Granger causality model. The study attempts to answer two critical questions: Does interest rate liberalization in Kenya have any positive influence on financial deepening? Does the financial depth which results from interest rate liberalization lead to economic growth? Using cointegration and error-correction models, the study finds strong support for the positive impact of interest rate liberalization on financial deepening in Kenya - although the strength and clarity of its efficacy is sensitive to the level of the dependency ratio. The study also finds financial depth to Granger cause economic growth in Kenya. The study, therefore, concludes that the interest rate liberalization in Kenya has succeeded in increasing economic growth through its influence on financial depth. This applies irrespective of whether the models are estimated in a static long-run formulation (cointegration model) or in the dynamic formulation (error-correction model). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to test the relationship between export and economic growth in the Malaysian economy from 1960 to 2005. Combining production function, and international trade and development theories, a five variable model is specified and estimated by using cointegration tests and error correction model. Multivariate cointegration results revealed that there exists a single cointegrating vector in the estimated system. This means that these variables are linked together in achieving their steady state equilibrium in the long run. From the estimation of the specified model, we reported that there is a positive relationship between export and economic growth in the long run and short run at 5 percent significance level in the Malaysian economy. Besides, our results suggest that capital has positive impacts on economic growth in the short-term and long-term but labor has an impact on economic growth only in the long run. For imports, it is proven that it has a negative relationship with economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines whether energy use drives economic growth or vice versa in the Indian context during 1970-71 to 2004-05. Utilizing Granger causality test, the study suggests that it is the economic growth that fuels more demand for both crude oil and electricity consumption and it is the only growth of coal consumption that drives economic growth. When influence of different components of energy on major two components of economic growth is investigated with the same causality test, none of the energy components found to be significantly influencing the two components of economic growth viz. private consumption and investment. In contrast, the variance decomposition analysis of Vector Autoregression (VAR) suggests that there could be a bi-directional influence between electricity consumption and economic growth, other results remaining unchanged. Therefore, the study yields mixed and contradictory result compared to the previous studies in the Indian context. However, on the basis of application of two econometric tools, the study with little more conviction suggests for reducing crude oil and natural gas consumption at least in the consumption sectors, which don?t directly contribute to production or add to capital formation of the economy, for achieving higher rate of growth in the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]