Does fish production influence the GDP and food security in Gulf Cooperation Council countries? Evidence from the dynamic panel data analysis

Abstract

The significance of fish production in human life has been proven in terms of food security as well as in increasing fishery income and economic growth. This study investigates the model of the long-run connection between marine fish production, economic growth, and food security. The study applies an annual panel data set comprising six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, covering the sample period 2000–2019. We have selected marine fish production as most of the fish production in the Gulf region is originated from marine sources with broad geographic distribution and better accessibility of marine fish production data. Testing the recently developed panel unit root tests, cointegration test, and the heterogeneous dynamic panel data named as a mean group, pooled mean group, and dynamic fixed effect estimation techniques on cross-country panel data, the result confirms the theoretical hypothesis of a positive relationship between fish export and GDP and fish import and food security. The Hausman tests suggest that the pooled mean group results are the appropriate ones. Further studies need to re-investigate the potential of fish production in explaining the economic growth and food security to meet the fast-growing population in Gulf Cooperation Council countries.