Social Cohesion and Economic Growth: A Case Study of Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan is probably going through the worst period of its history. The law and order situation and the absence of social cohesion are two of the chief reasons of current economic meltdown in the country. Even the law and order situation can be termed as a result of erosion in the social cohesion. This study has tried to see the relationship of social cohesion with respect to economic growth in Pakistan. Basically this phenomenon portrays the political economy aspect of a society. Because social cohesion is quite dependent upon the policies of different political regimes. And if policies are not in favour of society’s welfare then it will lead to social unrest in society. Social cohesion can be measured through many ways. But in this study it has been measured with the help of education inequality, gender inequality, and poverty. Time period has been taken from 1972-2008. Ordinary least square method has been applied. Results show that there is an inverse relationship among economic growth and all independent variables i.e. Education Inequality, Gender Inequality and lastly, Poverty.

Keywords: Poverty, Education, Government policy, Time series analysis