Does economic misery stifle human development? empirical evidence from Asian countries

This study investigates the impact of economic misery on human development in 32 Asian countries from 1991 to 2022. In addition to the full panel, the empirical analyses are performed separately for countries with very high levels of human development, high levels of human development, and medium & low levels of human development. The findings of the study reveal that economic misery has a negative and significant impact on human development in Asian countries. The results show that economic misery exerts a negative and significant influence on health, education and income dimensions of human development. Further, the estimation outcomes exhibit that foreign direct investment, trade openness and gross capital formation promote human development, whereas population growth impedes human development. The study suggests that governments and policymakers should curtail economic misery by curbing inflation and reducing unemployment to improve overall human development as well as to enhance life expectancy, educational attainments and standard of living. It is also recommended that policies aimed at attracting foreign direct investment, expanding trade openness, generating gross capital formation and controlling population growth should be adopted to boost human development in Asian countries.