Social Protection and Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis for Emerging Economies

Abstract

- Purpose of the study: Social protection contains policies and programs to reduce poverty and enhance economic development. Through several ways, investments can be made in the health and education sector to produce a high potential labour force that leads to economic growth. The quantitative approaches that have been used on the augmented production function contain social protection indicators. The fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and Kao residual-based cointegration models are used by considering the panel date set containing five emerging economies from 1982 to 2017. It found that government expenditure on health and subsidies are significant for economic growth. Meanwhile, gross fixed capital formation plays a significant role in boosting
emerging economies. In policy prospects, this study is helpful for the governments to enhance the fiscal budget for social protection, especially for the health sector, to improve the labour force efficiency, performance, and productivity at existing capital investment and increase economic growth. Numerous studies have followed the determinants of economic growth. But in a competitive environment, a study is required to understand the economic growth of the emerging economies (Pakistan, China, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) by accommodating 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sustainable development Goals through social protection strategies. Therefore, this will have a significant to understand economic development via social protection strategies.