SAARC Member Research Articles

LINKAGES AMONG CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) EMISSION, HEALTH SPENDING AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: A STUDY SAARC MEMBER COUNTRIES

The present world is on the good track to achieve economic growth though it results in huge environmental degradation. Hence, such economic growth poses serious detrimental impacts on human health, and it causes to increase in healthcare spending. Therefore, the present study aims to depict the relationship among carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, healthcare spending and economic growth for the South Asian countries (SAARC member countries) covering the period 1980-2014. The Dynamic Simultaneous-equation Model is fitted with the data set which is estimated by Generalized Method of Moment for investigating the causal relationship among these variables. The empirical results reveal bidirectional causality between carbon dioxide (CO2) emission and economic growth; and between economic growth and health spending. The results of the study also indicate unidirectional causality from carbon dioxide (CO2) and health spending in case of many SAARC member countries.

Scope of Regional Level Professional Studies in Law for Students of SAARC Member States

This paper explores possibilities of making the regional university South Asian University (SAU) at Delhi, India as regional centre of excellence for developing and delivering of legal education to students from member states of regional association known as SAARC. At present, SAARC comprises of eight countries of SAARC and legal education discourse of all eight member states is neither equipped to make students industry ready, nor it makes them employable beyond their domestic jurisdictions. The paper calls upon the SAU to make use of huge infrastructure and resources that it has at its disposal to fulfil the very purpose of regional level education. Keywords: Regional education; legal education; south Asia; SAARC; Curriculum development; law degree; law graduation; gender-based discrimination

POST-SAFTA INTRAREGIONAL TRADE BETWEEN INDIA AND SAARC

India plays a vital role in improving bilateral relations within SAARC. Since intra-regional trade is one of the major areas of cooperation, multilateral trade agreements among the regional members have been implemented for trade in merchandise. The paper examines the post-SAFTA extent of trade between India and SAARC members grouped under Less Developed Countries (LDCs) and Non-Less Developed Countries (NLDCs). Data for the period 2007-2021 were collected from IMF, DOTS. Percentages, Trade Intensity Index (TII) and Revealed Comparative Advantage Index (RCA Index) have been employed to study the research objectives. Percentages and TII reveal that India constitutes 80 percent of the intra-SAARC export with its trade concentrated with the LDCs, exhibiting greater trade intensity with Bhutan and Nepal. Further, SAARC being an agrarian region, the analysis of RCA Index on data from Trade Map, (ITC) indicate that India enjoys greater comparative advantage in its export of agricultural products to LDCs, especially Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and with Pakistan among the NLDCs. KEY WORDS: Intra-SAARC trade, Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Index, Trade Intensity Index (TII).

The Impact of English Language Proficiency on Business

English is important in the era of globalization. It is the most widely used global language and is the main language for international business. To succeed in today's global market, it's crucial to master English and other languages. High English proficiency helps individuals communicate effectively in SAARC, BIMSTEC, and EU member states. In business, English is a universal language that promotes effective communication and collaboration among diverse stakeholders. Effective communication is extremely important in business operations. Without seamless collaboration among producers, distributors, and consumers, entrepreneurial efficacy declines. Learning English allows us to confidently communicate with people from different countries and build meaningful relationships.

Investigating the Causes of Intraregional Challenges of SAARC

SAARC is a regional cooperation organization in South Asia that has not played a significant role in regional convergence in South Asia in reducing tensions and solving regional crises since its establishment. Serious challenges among SAARC members have made regional cooperation difficult. The actors in this region view each other with suspicion, which has increased tensions and instability in the region. As the causes of intraregional challenges of SAARC are discussed in this article, the central question raised is: What are the factors of intraregional challenges of SAARC? The hypothesis of this research has been raised as follows: Political differences, land disputes, and border disputes have put regional cooperation among SAARC members under strain and intensified competition, which is discussed in this research. This research is descriptive-analytical and the method of data collection is library-based. The current research is important in that it examines the internal challenges among SAARC members and highlights it. The findings of this research indicate that SAARC member countries have become victims of regional political competition, resulting in intensified arms competition, increased poverty, and hindering regional economic and trade development.

Do credit risks deter FDI? Empirical evidence from the SAARC countries

PurposeThis paper makes a novel attempt to estimate the potential impact of credit risk on foreign direct investment (FDI hereafter), thereby focusing on a completely unexplored area in the existing empirical literature.Design/methodology/approachTo provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between credit risk and FDI inflows, the study incorporates all the eight-member economies of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC hereafter) and analyzes a panel data set, over the period 2011 to 2019, extracted from the World Development Indicators, using the suitable econometric techniques for the efficient estimations of the specified models.FindingsThe results indicate a negative and statistically significant relationship between the credit risk of the banking sectors and FDI inflows. Similarly, market size and inflation rate appear to be the two other main factors behind the increasing FDI inflows in the SAARC member economies. Interestingly, the size of the market became irrelevant in attracting FDI inflows when the Indian economy is excluded from the sample due to its higher economic weight. On the other hand, FDI inflows are not dependent on the level of trade openness, with most of the specifications showing either an insignificant or negative coefficient of the variable.Practical implicationsThe obtained results are unique and robust to alternative methodologies, and hence, the SAARC economies could consider them as the critical inputs in formulating the appropriate policies on FDI inflows.Originality/valueThe findings are unique and original. The authors have established a relationship between credit risk and FDI for the first time in the SAARC context.

A Reassessment of Oil Market Volatility and Stock Market Volatility: Evidence from Selected SAARC Countries

Volatility spillover informs whether the information in one market impacts the information in another. This paper examines whether oil market volatility spills over to the equity markets of selected SAARC countries. The study uses data from February 2013 to September 2019 to obtain updated evidence about the transmission of global oil price volatility to the equity markets of the SAARC member countries. The bivariate EGARCH model is used to test for volatility transmission from the oil market to the stock market. It is found that oil price shocks do not significantly impact equity market volatility, except in Bangladesh. Policymakers can use these findings when making policy decisions.

Political and Economic Relation in The SAARC Countries

The level of cooperation among the member countries of SAARC has increased after its formation in 1985. SAARC was founded with the objective to improve living standards of the people, contribute to political, cultural and regional economic growth and to increase cooperation with another region of the world. Realizing the importance of regional cooperation and development, SAARC members have cooperated to establish and initiate various programs and forums for mutual benefit. Agreement on Judicial cooperation on Counter-Terrorism, establishment of Development Funds, Telemedicine Network, SAARC Writers and Literature Foundation, South Asia Women’s Centre and South Asia Olympic Council. Other major achievements include adoption of Social Charter in 2004, establishment of SAARC Arbitration Council in Islamabad in 2005, and establishment of SAARC Energy Center in Islamabad (2006), South Asian Regional Standards Organization (SARSO) was established in Dhaka (2014), SAARC Disaster Management Center was established in Gujarat in Nov 2016. Area of cooperation has been extended from five to eight. The economic ties and integration have not been very strong in SAARC countries.

Exchange Rate Uncertainty and India’s Bilateral Trade: A Gravity Model Approach

Through a gravity model, the paper attempts to analyse the impact of exchange rate uncertainty on India’s gross bilateral trade flows between its top five trading partners and its SAARC partners. Categorising the industries into five segments, namely, agricultural raw materials, chemicals, textile and clothing, metals and all other commodities, over 18 years (2000–2018), a panel data technique has been applied to examine the effect. The empirical result suggests that even though an exchange rate uncertainty shrinks the bilateral trade flows of agricultural raw materials for SAARC members, it enhances the trade flows across all industry verticals for the top five trading partners. Following the gravity model of trade, the study further suggests that the volume of bilateral trade between countries is proportional to the product of each country’s economic growth and inversely proportional to the distance between them. JEL: F10, F14,O24,D81

India's trade relations with the SAARC member countries during 2004 to 2014

India's trade relations with the SAARC member countries during 2004 to 2014

Impact of Education on Economic Growth: Evidence from SAARC Countries

The primary objective of this paper is to examine the influence of education on SAARC members' economic growth to estimate panel data periods from 1990 to2019, the current study employed panel unit root such as ADF Fisher Chi-square, LLC and IP&SW and for long-run and short-run co-integration applied PMG approach, Kao (1999) co-integration, and Dumitrescu-Hurlin Panel Causality test. Primary School Enrollment (PSE), Secondary School Enrollment (SSE), and Tertiary School Enrollment (TSE) have a constructive and significant influence on GDPPC growth in the long term but have a negligible outcome in short run. In all three models, negative noteworthy value of ECM suggests junction from the short term to long-run equilibrium. Moreover, there is a unidirectional causal association running from PSE, SSE, and TSE to GDPPC. This study concluded that the government should place a greater emphasis on education to stimulate economic growth.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON INDIA’S TRADE WITH SAARC NATIONS

Countries and regions in South Asia have seen the effects of the covid-19 outbreak. The first verified case of the Covid-19 virus was reported in Nepal, and India was the first South Asian nation to report more instances of the virus than China. As the situation with Covid-19 escalated, it had an even more negative effect on South Asian intraregional trade, which was already at an extremely low level of less than 5%. This studys overarching goal is to learn more about how Indias trade with that nation evolved throughout the Covid-19 era. South Asian countries have been experiencing a pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus since November 2019. According to available evidence, this has helped boost Indias exports to those countries. However, the relative significance of Indias major commercial partners has changed over the previous few decades, despite the fact that the amount of commerce between India and SAARC has not expanded considerably. All of humanity is feeling the affects of the newly discovered corona-virus, whether it be physical sickness or emotional stress. In addition to having far-reaching effects on the worlds educational system, the economic ripples caused by this pandemic have hit every countrys bottom line. All of the nations and territories in South Asia have seen the effects of the covid-19 pandemic. It was initially reported in Nepal, and India now has more confirmed cases than China. The percentage of intra-regional trade between SAARC members was below 5% at the time. South Asian intra-regional commerce was further disrupted by the Covid-19 epidemic. KEYWORDS: SAARC, Covid-19 epidemic, India, Global economy, World Commerce Organization, Indian market

Impact of Regional Economic Integration on FDI in SAARC Countries

Purpose: The empirical literature is inconclusive regarding whether some regions are more effective than others at attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The article aims to ascertain the effect of regional economic integration on FDI in SAARC member countries from 1998 to 2017.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: Mix research technique has been used. While qualitative research entails in-depth literature readings and reports, quantitative analysis entails presenting data via graphs and tables.
 Findings: Findings suggest a significant positive connection between FDI and regional integration in the SAARC economies. While regional integration has a vital role in increasing SAARC's share of global commerce, it has increased FDI inflows and its share in Asia and the world. As a result, while we cannot overlook both classic and non-traditional economic factors affecting FDI, regional integration may play a critical role in fostering FDI growth.
 Implications/Originality/Value: By boosting cross-border investment, regional cooperation will allow businesses, particularly those from smaller nations, to expand their size and capabilities to compete worldwide. It can also aid in increasing efficiency and reforming industries. SAARC countries must make significant progress toward integration.

Consumption-Based CO2 Emissions on Sustainable Development Goals of SAARC Region

Consumption-based CO2 emission (CBE) accounting shows the possibility of global carbon leakage. Very little attention has been paid to the amount of emissions related to the consumption of products and services and their impact on sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially in the SAARC region. This study used a CBE accounting method to measure the CO2 emissions of five major SAARC member countries. Additionally, a Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and a causality model were used to investigate the long-term effects of the CBE and SDG variables between 1972 and 2015. The results showed that household consumption contributed more than 62.39% of CO2 emissions overall in the SAARC region. India had the highest household emissions, up to 37.27%, and Nepal contributed the lowest, up to 0.61%. The total imported emissions were the greatest in India (16.88 Gt CO2) and Bangladesh (15.90 Gt CO2). At the same time, the results for the long-term relationships between the CBEs and SDGs of the SAARC region showed that only the combustible renewables and waste (CRW) variable is significant for most of these countries. The sharing of the responsibility for emissions between suppliers and customers could encourage governments and policymakers to make global climate policy and sustainable development decisions, which are currently stalled by questions over geographical and past emission inequities.

Trade potential under the SAFTA between India and other SAARC countries: the augmented gravity model approach

Abstract The study attempts to analyse India’s trade potential with other SAARC member states under the SAFTA agreement by means of the augmented gravity model, at annual frequency from 1992 to 2019 in general and from 2004 to 2019 in particular. The findings of this paper prove that the intra-regional trade volumes between SAARC countries can be increased and encouraged. Moreover, the research shows that it is important to introduce structural reforms aiming to boost trade with non-member states. It would be advisable for researchers to take into account the effect locational and infrastructural advantages have on transport costs through the application of a gravity model. Previous research has also demonstrated that the augmented gravity model may prove helpful in explaining some key features of South Asian trade, which traditional gravity models fail to do.

Human Development Index: A Comparative Study between Nepal and Other SAARC Member Countries

This study aims at assessing the trends, patterns and compositions of indices of Human Development Index (HDI) of Nepal, with the bid of comparing these with those of the SAARC member countries. Using primary and secondary sources of data, the study embarks on a consecutive analysis of the years ranging from 2015 to 2019, while employing a descriptive research design. Simple descriptive tools; content analysis, trend line, and bar diagram are used for data presentation and analysis. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been preparing the global Human Development Index report since 1990. The study argues that misplaced priorities and not necessarily a shortage of resources often prevent countries from reaching acceptable levels of human development indexes, and thus failing to assuring their citizens the necessary universal access to basic essential amenities such as health, education, security and overall human emancipation. It concludes that, this type of comparison is pertinent because it would attract public attention, in terms of policy advocacy, which could lead to extensive positive policy initiatives for more detailed discussions and application of development strategies amongst the SAARC members’ countries.

Quality Assurance of Online and Distance Learning Education for SAARC Region during Covid-19 Situation

The outbreak of second wave of COVID-19 pandemic has again halted routine life of normal citizen across the globe. The nature always support the change for better future and covid-19 has provide chance to change challenges into opportunities. This study is sought to examine post Covid-19 effects on ICT infrastructure for e-learning education and its quality assurance mechanism in SAARC countries. This research is descriptive in nature and use comparative analysis of numerous challenges faced by SAARC member countries for implementation of E-learning. Challenges and limitation are also brush-up for further refinement in future in these areas. Future researchers may conduct survey techniques in explanatory research on implementation of ICT infrastructure of SAARC region countries. SAARC member countries may take lead from this study to address challenges and their solutions for development and implementation of E-learning.

Convergence Potentials in SAARC and ASEAN Economies

This study has set to compare the usefulness of the regional integration efforts taken by two important economic blocs, SAARC and ASEAN, within the Asian continent to reduce the regional income inequality. Therefore, the existence of income convergence (or divergence) among the SAARC and ASEAN countries is the aim of this study. To investigate whether (or not) there exists income convergence across the SAARC and ASEAN blocs over the period of 1970-2017, [Formula: see text]-convergence, σ-convergence and club convergence estimation methods have been applied. The results confirm the convergence of income across the ASEAN member countries, which is absent for the SAARC member countries at the intra-regional level. Although we considered all countries of the SAARC and ASEAN blocs together in the panel, an evidence of income convergence over the years has been found. The analysis supports the view of trade liberalization and recommends investing in the human capital to narrow down the regional disparity in future. To achieve a favorable impact of Asian rising growth, regional integration is important, for that a collective policy framework at the regional level is needed for both SAARC and ASEAN.

Effect of exchange rate uncertainty on bilateral trade performance in SAARC countries: a gravity model analysis

PurposeExchange rate uncertainty leads to an indecisive environment for imports and exports that would condense international trade, foreign direct investment, trade earnings, trade volumes, economic growth and welfare. This study aims to examine, empirically, the effect of exchange rate uncertainty on bilateral trade performance, focusing on eight SAARC member economies using the popular modified gravity model of trade.Design/methodology/approachThe paper includes eight SAARC members – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka panel data set over the period 2005–2018. The authors consider both standardized value (standard deviation) and conditional variance model to determine volatility of exchange rate. Primarily, ordinary least squares, random effects and fixed effects estimation techniques are employed to investigate the impact of exchange rate volatility. Endogeneity and robustness of the findings have been tested using the simultaneity-adjusted model and dynamic panel data two-step system GMM estimation techniques.FindingsEmpirical findings endorse the view that exchange rate volatility lowers trade flows in the SAARC regions. However, this adverse effect of exchange rate uncertainty on trade is pretty small. The negative correlation between exchange rate volatility and bilateral trade remains consistent and significant after controlling of simultaneous causality, autocorrelation, year effects, country-pair heterogeneity and endogeneity irrespective of panel data estimation techniques and different measures of volatility.Originality/valueThe present paper is original work.

India’s Economy under Pressure from COVID-19

The article examines the negative changes in the Indian economy since the beginning of 2020 under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures to overcome them. The increase in the number of cases, the introduction of quarantine led to a rapid reduction in production, mass unemployment, and a decrease in the country’s GDP. In the current emergency conditions, it became an objective necessity to increase the impact on the situation of the nation state in various forms. It took dramatic changes in the economic policy of India of the previous period, when the position of private entrepreneurship was significantly strengthened, especially in industry and services. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the government of the country, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to tackle the primary challenge - to keep the country from sliding into total prolonged stagnation and at the same time to support a multimillion poverty-stricken population. The main method of the government was the policy of financial saturation of the economy through direct financial injections, as well as the direct distribution of money and food in kind among the poor. The collapse of economic activity in India in the first half of 2020 was replaced in the third quarter of this year by signs of some economic recovery. For India, according to UNCTAD, in 2021, the opportunity to attract significant foreign investment from the leading countries of the world, interested in expanding their positions in its huge domestic market, is increasing. In the context of the pandemic, India’s role in revitalizing, at the initiative of N. Modi, political and economic contacts in South Asia between SAARC members became especially significant.