Inclusive Developments Through Socio-economic Indicators: New Theoretical and Empirical Insights

The dynamic effect of globalization on socio-economic disparity measured by the income inequality is always a noteworthy issue of research interests. Globalization is mostly appreciated from the aspect of economic growth, but it has been blamed for influencing the imperfect competition, environmental degradation, economic inequality, etc. Under this backdrop, this chapter seeks to examine the impacts of international trade and informational globalization on income inequality in both developing and developed groups of nations of the world using dynamic panel Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimates. The results of first difference dynamic panel GMM estimates imply the analogous impacts of trade and informational globalization on income inequality in both developing and developed groups of nations. However, the financial and political measures of globalization have dissimilar effects on income inequality across developing and developed economies.

The research analyzes the convergence of several socioeconomic indicators in a sample of 137 countries over the period 1990–2019. Applying log t-convergence tests, it finds that socioeconomic indicators’ convergence is divergent. Measuring seven different indicators, there are only two indicators of life expectancy and access to the internet converging at the global level, while the remaining indicators of gross domestic product per capita (GDPP), foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow, urbanization, fertility, and CO₂ emissions do not. An extension to sub-sample analysis by levels of income and clustering convergence clubs is employed to confirm the heterogeneity and complexity of development pathways among countries. There are several insights for researchers and governments regarding future research and policies, especially for the development of developing countries.

With the increase in population, the energy needs of countries are also increasing. These countries have difficulties in meeting these increasing needs. Countries that cannot meet this need have to import energy from abroad. This situation adversely affects the current account balance of countries. Nuclear energy investments allow countries to obtain their own energy, although there are some criticisms. In this framework, while some countries in the world increase their nuclear energy investments, some countries do not have any nuclear power plants (NPP). There are 32 such countries where nuclear energy projects are running till date. Therefore, it is very important to determine the socio-economic variables of countries that have nuclear energy investments. In this context, a detailed literature analysis will be made first to determine socio-economic criteria. Then, the importance weights of these factors will be calculated using the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The profiles of the countries that make nuclear energy investments demonstrate that education level is the most essential socio-economic factor for the improvement of nuclear energy investments. Also, income inequality is another important variable in this regard. However, consumption behaviour and saving behaviour have the lowest weights.

The chapter focuses on the roles of different socio-economic indicators in explaining the convergence or inclusiveness of income across different income groups in the world. Econometric, statistical and mathematical tools have been used as methodology. As major results, overall greater role of socioeconomic factors of social sustainability (SS) than economic sustainability (ES), have been found. This have caused greater income inequality among these various income groups of the world, with income diverging among various groups of countries, mainly, within Principal Country Groups II, together with slight sign of income convergence among the rest Principal Country Groups I and III respectively. However, greater predominance of inclusiveness aspect of socio-economic factors of ES, is also found among the Groups I and III respectively, together with their significant roles in raising CHI. This may have led to the possibility of slight income convergence within these groups.

The idea of relating health, education and other social sector variables with growth and development, or trying to find any convergence among similar countries with respect to such macroeconomic indicators is the basic idea of this chapter, which explores the concept of enhancing welfare through a subjective route, specifically by way of expenditure in health care. By way of testing σ- and β-convergence of current healthcare expenditure per capita of the BRICS countries for the period 2006–2018, it has been found that these countries catch up with significant convergence. It has also been obtained through panel data analysis that such convergence is significantly explained by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, life expectancy at birth, elderly ratio, CO₂ emissions and prevalence of undernourishment, all of which are in accordance with conventional hypotheses. This chapter claims that, by way of convergence, the BRICS nations may emerge as a new economic power, and expenditure on health care is one of the major areas, among other social sector variables that will play an important role.

We analyzed the global historical change between 2007 and 2014, mainly emanating from economic and political games played between the USA and European countries starting with the Great Crisis and ending with Arab Spring, from the perspective of contemporary philosophy, and found that it not only growth reducing effect but also devastating effects on Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region due to the deterioration of governance. This chapter, by conducting empirical analysis, brings new definitions to existing concepts such as rules of the game, homosapien and sage. The Great Crisis is not a global crisis, but a trans-Atlantic financial crisis initiated by the incapable corporate governance of US-based financial multinational corporations (MNCs). The crisis faced by MENA countries that are exposed to Arab Spring as of 2012 is not the economic spillover effect of the Great Crisis but a consequence of political destabilization as a result of deteriorating governance structures in the region by developed countries under the name of Arab Spring. Not the entire-region, but only the countries exposed to Arab Spring, have experienced negative growth.

Adoption of digital technology at different levels of economic activity is an important indicator of development. Countries are adopting digital technology at business and government levels to increase efficiency and accountability of service delivery to appropriate user groups. Many countries are using digital technology in banking, education, and many other sectors and recasting the relationship among customers, workers, and employers. The digital transformation progressively changes productivity across all sectors and industries. The empirical investigation shows that mainly the role of per capita income (state of living) and supply-side factors explain cross-country variations in Digital Adoption Index (DAI) in business using a static panel data model with fixed effect (FE) approach for 169 countries over the period 2014–2016. In this context, this study makes an attempt to understand the state of digital adoption in business across 169 countries in 2016 using World Bank data. The empirical results state that only major variable like labour force are positively and statistically significant with DAI across the countries. Although there are caveats that the International Monetary Fund has made about the digital economy, they state that we should think carefully about how to devise policies that will allow us to fully exploit the digital revolution’s benefits while minimizing job dislocation.

The aspect of economic contrast seen in developing countries shoots primarily from the structure of loan allocation to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, which is essential for job creation and understanding the role of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in meeting the credit demands of the vulnerable but vital sector of less developed economies. The study demonstrates the impact of MSME protection in terms of both fixed and adjustable factor coefficient settings, creating a model of a small open economy with three sectors: a skill-intensive export sector; a capital-intensive import competing sector; and a labour-intensive import competing and intermediate products producing sector. It analyzes the types of protection that aid in the expansion of credit and the alleviation of capital constraints, which further highlights the insufficiencies of tariff protection for the organized sector and simple credit guarantee policies to provide adequate credit flow and thus continued MSME growth. Finally, it considers the importance of priority sector lending policies in ensuring adequate credit distribution to this sector. The results show that protection helps in enhancing flow of credit and thereby works to relax the capital constraint. However, the tariff protection for organized sector may positively or negatively affect the non-traded unorganized sector.

The Federal Government of Pakistan has been interrogated by the tribal communities of the country regarding socio-economic inclusiveness. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has a large number of ethnic groups, and most of them are economically vulnerable and societally excluded due to partial governmental policy and societal construction. Most of the tribal groups are concentrated in Baluchistan, North-Western Frontier province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Due to the lopsided developmental policy and existence of the feudal system, the wealth and lands are concentrated in a handful number of rural elites. The tribal communities are not only socio-economically backward but also trapped by terrorism. Due to financial crisis and large-scale unemployment, tribal youths have been involved with various radical forces and criminal activities. The secessionist movement of the Baloch people has a long history of deprivation. This chapter intends to investigate the socio-economic challenges of the tribal people of Pakistan and the reluctant outlook of the federal government. It will also delineate how the tribal youths are being attached to terrorist groups due to unemployment and how this is more dangerous to the security of Pakistan. This chapter is based on the content analysis method. The basic argument of this chapter is that socio-economic inclusiveness is required in a multi-ethnic country to ensure social harmony, national integration and national security.

Like many other nations, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) is having colossal difficulties managing the continuity of its development efforts in the milieu of COVID-19 pandemic. Widespread resource gap is evident for development budget due to significant diminution of revenue from readymade garments (RMG) and remittances, volatility in capital market, constant increase in trade deficit and reduction of foreign currency reserve, increase in debt and lack of investor confidence. A new horizon of relationship with development partners (DPs) will matter more than ever before. Regrettably, recent experience with collaborative mechanisms such as Local Consultative Group (LCG) and LCG Sector Working Group (LCG-WG) does not support high-impact relationships in terms of result-oriented development effectiveness. Arguably, the international shift of the development community from aid to development effectiveness agenda in 2011 also contributed to country-level motivation of Government and DPs for closer collaboration. In this backdrop, the COVID-19 crisis makes a strong call to both Government and DPs to change their business for improved development results. This chapter, therefore, examines the issues that impede development effectiveness and governance related to the Government as well as DPs. The study observe that the DPs and GoB don’t represent a horizontal relationship to implement the development effectiveness agenda in Bangladesh mainly because of dominant attitude, lack of alignment and harmonization and accountability of DPs and weak policy, institution and leadership of GoB. However, COVID-19 economic crisis makes a renewed call to both DPs and GoB implement the development effectiveness agenda, addressing existing issues and improve the management of development finance to increase economic growth and improve life of the people.

The real estate market shows a number of distinctive features that are yet to be clearly understood at the theoretical level, because of the extreme complexity of its nature of both financial instrument and mere commodity. Moreover, as we know, a long lasting speculative bubble in the housing market was one of the main causes of the great recession. The aim of this chapter is to generate an index to explain how inclusive contextual factors influence the price level of real estate in Genoa, Italy. The authors use the non-parametric methodologies of factor analysis and cluster analysis. The results of the analysis suggest that most of the variability in the fluctuation of the average price of properties is strictly connected to the features of the reference context (such as neighbourhood prestige, type and level of education of residents, access to services, etc.). However, the percentage of unjustified price variability is assumed to refer to the incidence of the intrinsic variables of the estate assets.

Water resources play a significant role in economic growth and socio-economic development. Jordan experiences water scarcity. As the water resources can be used in manufacturing and agriculture, their sustainable use and solutions to water scarcity problem can contribute to the sustainable economic and socio-economic development in Jordan. Furthermore, there are political and economic aspects of Jordan’s water scarcity. Jordan is trying to solve its water scarcity problem through projects. Based on an in-depth literature review, this chapter aims to investigate Jordan’s water scarcity problem, highlighting its political and economic aspects and their impacts on socio-economic development, and to propose solutions to the water scarcity problem in Jordan. Water is vital for economic development and political stability in Jordan. It is important for Jordan to use its water resources in an efficient, effective and sustainable way so that socio-economic development of Jordan can be supported. Unsustainable use of water resources can cause depletion of Jordan’s scarce water resources, which can exacerbate magnitude of water resource problem and hinder socio-economic development. This chapter can be beneficial to economists, politicians and academics.

Inclusive growth is a buzzword among all nations. Poverty alleviation programmes are vital part of inclusive growth. Hence, the potential role of social protection in the development process has received heightened recognition in recent years. Poverty alleviation through government schemes or programmes is an important part of all nations’ inclusive growth. The explanation of social protection has varied across different development agencies, namely the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Labour Organization (ILO), etc. But the basic thrust of such definitions has involved what the Asian Development Bank (ADB) described in its 2001 Social Protection Strategy as enabling ‘vulnerable groups to prevent, reduce and/or cope with risks’ (ADB, 2001). Hence, it is vital to stress that social protection can help or cover vulnerable non-poor vis-á-vis poor groups. In some cases, such as in East Asia, the poor benefit more from social assistance (SA). This is attributable, no doubt, to the impact of cash- or food-for-work programs (ADB, 2009). This chapter seeks to determine or identify the impact of Social Protection Index (SPI) on inclusive growth through poverty alleviation in a few Asian countries using secondary data (ADB, 2009, 2016, 2019) on government social protection programs in some countries in Asia. It is obtained that the impact of components of SPI, such as social insurance (SI) programs, SA programs and labour market programs (LMP), is playing a vital role in eradication of poverty and attaining inclusive growth.

Today, many countries strive to develop their small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) sectors because of their acknowledged capacity to facilitate the optimal utilization of locally available resources while engaging local technology for the production of goods and services for local consumption as well as export trade. Also in area of agriculture, these enterprises serve as means of sustainable food production, improve employment generation, combat food shortage, and enhance economic growth and development. However, the growth performance of this sector in Nigeria has been dwindling over time, which requires government expenditure (GE) policy intervention. Therefore, this study examines the influence of public expenditure on the growth of SMEs in Nigeria employing unit root and co-integration tests for the period 1981–2019. The results reveal that SMEs and selected macroeconomic variables have a long-run relationship with SMEs output performance. It also shows that GE has direct and significant impact on the growth of SMEs in Nigeria, while government deficit financing (GDF) has adverse and insignificant effects on the Nigeria SMEs both in the short- and long-run period. Inflation rate (INF) has an inverse but significant effect on the growth of SMEs in Nigeria both in the short- and long-run periods. This study thus recommends, among others, that government should ensure the proper management of capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure in raising the growth of SMEs in Nigeria to achieve inclusive growth.

Reducing income gap and enhancing welfare of people can be achieved through improved performance regarding socio-economic indicators, which can support sustainable development. People living in villages tend to migrate to the cities with the hope of enhancing their income. People living in cities and income gap among the people in the cities are expected to increase further. Enhanced living conditions in villages can reduce the need for this migration and increase welfare of the people in the villages. This chapter aims to examine drivers for sustainable smart villages and ways for enhancing and supporting their effectiveness in socio-economic development, in enhancing welfare and living conditions of people living in villages, and in reducing income gap between urban and rural people. This chapter investigates potential and roles of sustainable and smart villages in enhancing welfare and living conditions of people living in villages. Furthermore, this chapter emphasises the villages’ roles in sustainable development as well as importance of transformation of villages into the sustainable and smart ones and establishment of sustainable and smart villages so that convergence, social inclusion and socio-economic indicators can be supported. This chapter explains drivers for transformation of the villages into the sustainable and smart ones as well as establishment of new sustainable and smart villages. This chapter provides recommendations for sustainable and smart villages effective in contributing to sustainable and socio-economic development. This chapter can be useful to urban planners, construction industry stakeholders, policy makers and researchers.

Advanced economies have a significantly longer history of using fiscal decentralization to tackle inequality, poverty and promote inclusive growth than those in developing Asia. However, in the recent years, developing Asia has explored the more active use of fiscal decentralization for inclusive purposes. India and China are no exception. As newly emerging economic powers on the global stage, China and India are interesting cases in the light of their remarkable record of economic growth in the recent years. But the cause of concern is that the poor in both these countries, especially in India, are not fully sharing the benefits of rapid economic growth. While in India, the poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day (2011 PPP$) stands at 25.01% and the GINI index at 35.7% in 2021, China’s poverty headcount ratio stands at 0.2% and the GINI index at 46.6% in 2021. Using the System GMM approach for data ranging from 2000 to 2022 the study finds that fiscal decentralization reduces poverty levels and the inequality in the distribution of income when size of the government spending is large.

Stable high growth in the service sector has made India free from the stigma of slow and steady ‘Hindu rate of growth’ of about 3.5% per annum during the first three decades of independence. Service-led growth has placed India among the top performing giant economies in the world. India is now a 3 trillion USD (United States Dollar) economy in terms of Nominal GDP (IMF, 2020). Under this milieu, the chapter aims to examine whether the growth in the service sector in India is inclusive or not. The observations of the study have shown that the service sector has been growing at fast pace compared to the other two sectors, which makes the system into jobless status. The sectoral contribution of service sector to the GDP is increasing after the new economic reform of 1990, but the employment contribution is going down. So the country is now in the grip of ‘jobless’ growth, and the grip is strengthening because of some structural issues such as changes in consumers’ demand with rising per capita income. Further deepening of finance capital in the savings sphere of service sector has made the wide disconnect between the real economic activity and growth of finance capital. Revival of high linkage sectors with higher potential for employment growth, such as agriculture and manufacturing, can be game changer towards the goal of inclusiveness.

This chapter presents an investigation into the theory of labour market segmentation and income inequality in the Ghanaian mining sector. Mining activity especially gold mining has been a significant component of exports as well as employment and income earning in the three major mining regions of Ghana. While income growth is an economic benefit, the high incomes associated with the mining sector may lead to greater income inequality. This chapter provides an analysis of mining activity and income inequality in the Western, Eastern, and Ashanti regions of Ghana. The application of labour market segmentation and the Gini coefficient (a measure of inequality) for personal income are found to be significantly associated with the type and levels of mining employment. However, this observation is not linear as income inequality initially increases with mining activity before decreasing at medium to high levels of mining employment, thus following a Kuznets curve pattern. Segregating datasets for indigenous and expatriate staff reveals very different patterns of income inequality. It poignantly increases with indigenous and/or local community personnel relative to expatriate technical personnel at high levels of mining employment; income inequality is lower among the local community residents relative to nationals from other regions and/or from neighbouring countries. This means segmented labour markets (SLM) within the mining industry are likely to be a problem as they result in increased income inequality among locales relative to foreign expatriates.

The assertions of the government that poverty eradication and social development generally are the main challenges and that it is fully committed to address these issues have continued over time. But how genuine this claim is a matter of great concern. So, this chapter may be an attempt to analyze patterns in social sector expenditure on education (SSEE) and its impact on Human Development Index (HDI) among different states in India. The combined social sector expenditures (SSE) of Centre and States, which provide the best picture of India’s commitment towards the social sector in education, may be assessed. There are diverse ways of inspecting the trends in expenditures. Firstly, to look at SSE as a proportion of gross state domestic product (GSDP), secondly is to calculate SSE as percentage of aggregate budget expenditure, thirdly is to look at the real per capita expenditure (PCE) (at constant prices) for the social sector in the case of the states. This chapter looks at the trends in SSEE, considering all the alternative ways and the impact of SSEE on HDI. The result of the study shows that there is a positive relationship between SSEE and HDI. SSEE may lead to increases in gross enrolment ratio (GER) and literacy rate (LR). An increase in GER and LR may help in increasing the HDI.

The financial system of an economy, especially banking, facilitates efficient allocation of resources from savers to borrowers for productive investments, and thus promotes economic growth. State-wise bank credit in India shows a growing divergence, despite the aim of central planning to reach a degree of convergence in macroeconomic performance over time. This chapter analyzes how diverging bank credit affects macroeconomic performances of the Indian states, through an alternative approach of composite indicators-based rankings of states adopting the methodology of TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) that is used in operations research or more specifically MCDM (multiple criteria decision-making). A composite indicator of the states’ annual macroeconomic performances has been constructed taking indicators of output growth, per capita state domestic product, inflation, and fiscal indicators for years 2006–2018. States are ranked by both macroeconomic performance and bank credit to states, and the correlation between the two indicators, known in the literature to be interlinked,is studied here to understand how the availability of credit or lack of it has influenced State level macroeconomic development in India. The results thus show that wealthier and better performing states continue to attract the larger chunk of bank credit, while weaker states have not been able to catch up. An important policy implication would be to place even more emphasis on higher levels of credit growth for weaker states, particularly infrastructure credit, to achieve a degree of income convergence throughout the Indian economy.

This chapter proposes a new architecture to address challenges to security and the privacy in e-healthcare under Industry 5.0. With the growing needs for high-quality medical treatment and the continuously growing costs of treating global medical problems, systems and web-based medical care are regarded as innovative solutions. In particular, the new progress in Internet of Things (IoT) has led to the development of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). The patient history data is handled and processed remotely in real-time rather than visiting any clinic and then having that data transferred for subsequent use to third parties, such as data that gets saved in the cloud. This patient data faced security threats and it is observed as major limitations of using such systems in Industry 5.0. This chapter analyzes the security and secrecy challenges, together with the necessities, the danger involved and proposed secured blockchain-based framework which is capable of future research scope in Industry 5.0. The study has described an Eye Hospital case study that stores the eye donors’ details. With such critical scenario, this study addresses healthcare scenario with poverty-led agenda and social developmental features.

‘Dalits’ are considered to be the marginalized section in India. In the social milieu of this country, they are excluded from the variants of life. This chapter is a modest attempt to construct an aggregative picture of social exclusion of Dalit Groups at district level in India. It is generally claimed that social exclusion is captured in brackets of non-attainment, particularly in the spheres of livelihood, education and health. However, a true index of exclusion should include of not only non-attainment but the pangs of injustice meted out to them. Such injustice may take various forms (such as crime against Dalits, non-caring of the girl child and so on). Such injustice eats into the gains of social attainment. The speciality of our index is that it includes these variables of social injustice together with the traditional indicator of non-attainment. For the construction of this index, the study has used the standard techniques of principal component analysis (PCA) with negative weights for the attributes of injustice. In order to arrive at a comparable figure, standardization of the variables is encapsulated. In explaining the differences of index value, it has taken recourse to a large fallacy of robustness that is to arrive at the conclusion. Fiducial methods have been used to arrive at a more commendable figure. The analysis shows a close relationship between Dalit Exclusion Index (DEI) and a number of variables. General impression is that as the general wellbeing of people rises, there is a fall in the Dalit exclusion. Also, it is shown that public policy have strong effect on redresser of Dalit exclusion.

Forestry is an integral part of an economy. It not only maintains the balance of the ecosystem but provides sustainable livelihood to the forest-fringe dwellers, apart from being a huge source of revenue for the government. Hence, proper management of the forest resources is an important concern for the economists. On the other hand, convergence of natural resources is one of the hot cakes of discussion for the economists. In this study, the authors have considered three forest regions of West Bengal; these three being the largest forest areas hold an important position in West Bengal’s economy. Here, the authors have considered the whole of dryland forestry that covers the arid and semi-arid districts of western part of the state. They have also considered the forestry of Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts that cover the sub-Himalayan forestry of North Bengal and mangrove forestry of South 24 Parganas district. The authors have used time-series data for the time period 1980–2019 and performed the Absolute Beta Convergence and Sigma Convergence Analysis as well as Conditional Beta Convergence of the total forest products of these three regions. In this study, the authors have found the existence of both forms of beta convergence but for variations, a divergence has been observed. The authors have also used the data from 2000 to 2019 on various aspects of income from forestry and performed the three forms of tests, like that of total forest products and observed similar type of results, that is, beta convergence of both forms but sigma divergence. The findings of this study ask for serious steps by the government bodies, since the decreasing rates are the causes of worries.

Education transmits knowledge and abilities that are essential for any society’s socioeconomic progress. It improves the quality of life by providing both individuals and civilizations with several advantages. In this regard, women’s education is critical as they spend longer time with children than men. Despite the fact that education plays an immense role in overall wellbeing of society, in India, there are fewer educational opportunities available to young women than to young men. The gender bias that persists in Indian education and professional training is evident even in the richest countries in the world. In this regard, this study focuses on this intergenerational transmission of knowledge from the mother to her progenies in Karimganj District of Assam using the data from the household level primary survey. This study examines mothers’ educational profiles and ascertains the extent to which their education influence their children’s educational attainments. The results show that woman’s education has a direct role in enhancing the overall welfare of children and, thus, indirectly improves the economic status of the family. The results provide definite causal connections between a mother’s education and children’s educational attainment.

Irrigation facility has been identified by many researchers as one of the essential institutional factors in agriculture sector of any country, including India. Furthermore, its importance has also been admitted in the agro-productions in any provinces, districts and blocks. The equitable distribution of such facilities may lead to equitable distributions in the productivity of land for different crop productions. Under this milieu, this chapter intends to examine the trends in the different types of paddy production and irrigational facilities in the Paschim Medinipur District of West Bengal State in India and tries to correlate whether disparities in paddy production are associated with disparities in the distribution of irrigational facilities. The results show positive association between the two and prescribe inclusive arrangements of irrigational facilities to all the blocks in the district to have long-term solutions.