Competitiveness, governance and globalization: What matters for poverty alleviation?

Abstract

Currently, poverty and food deficiency are prevalent in the region where two-thirds of the population is resided according to World Bank estimates [Klytchnikova (2017). Counting calories: the data behind food insecurity and hunger. The World Bank Data Blog. Available at http://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/counting-calories-data-behind-food-insecurity-and-hunger?CID=POV_TT_Poverty_EN_EXT]. This panel data study is set to analyze the effect of competitiveness, governance and globalization on poverty in case of 73 developing countries from 2005 to 2016. The indicators of governance are extracted from World Governance Indicators, and an overall index is constituted using factor analysis. This study has estimated eight models with different proxies of governance and one without governance. The results estimated using feasible generalized least squares approach which confirmed that all governance indicators have a negative impact on poverty. Similarly, globalization, competitiveness and development expenditures also assist in poverty alleviation.