Challenging Political Economy of South-East Asia Data (Essay Sample)

The Challenging Political Economy of South Asia
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The Challenging Political Economy of South Asia
Introduction
The term political economy emerged in the 18th century amongst the philosophers. It was derived from the Greek word economy, which in essence refers to the management of a household. The later term Political economy is used to derive the management of economic affairs of the state. In short, it is used to describe the ways in which the state government would utilize the resources such that all the needs of the citizens are. It's a term that spurred the debate on the influence of the nature on the economy. There have been other considerations that emerged with regard to the relationship between the state and the economy. They include questions like which is more suitable, and beneficial to the public to the state-driven economy and self-regulated market. The influence of politics on the economy will be considered in the study (Caporaso & Levine, 1992, p. 1-4). The study of economics has expanded beyond the theory where the aim is to maximize utility to include other concepts including the distribution of the resources and how politics affect the economy of a region and as well the political institutions.
South Asia is a region of diverse culture and political environments. The following countries are considered to be a part of that area. Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. Afghanistan was included in that regional block in the year 2006. In order for us to understand the influence of the political environment to the economy. We shall carry out both a qualitative study on the aspects of the relationship between the democracy and development. The link between the culture, formation of beliefs and ethnicity with the economy. A quantitative study of the parameters will be obtained to analyse the relationship statistically.
Research Problem
The concept of political economy was introduced in the 18th century to denote the relationship between the government practices and the economy. The term however has been replaced by the later term "economy" which is an all-inclusive term for the economics dynamics in the country. Various studies that have been done to determine the relationship between democracy and economic development.
(Przewrrski, 2009) Examined the link between the economy and political regimes. In his findings, he concluded that democracy survives more in a developed country and that the political regimes have no impact on the investment rate. He also notes that the since there is usually an increase in the population in the dictatorship governments, the per capita income also increases. (Milton, 1962) stated that more political correctness will ignite economic rights and thus encouraging economic development. He noted that some elements of democracy retards the economic growth, an example is the income redistribution and others, he was categorical that the democracy is not the cause of the negative growth but rather the political interference. (Robert, 1996) suggested a non-linear, or curve linear relationship, thus at the initial stages of economic development, democracy will have an negative impact on the development, thus in his conclusion, the middle level is the most favourable, followed by the lower level and the highest level comes third in terms of the impact on the economic development.
Studies have been done to determine the links between ethnicity, culture and the economic development. Constant, Gataullina and Zimmermann (2006a) demonstrated that there exist a relationship between the cultural and ethnic identity of the labour market. Culture and identity affect the way people work, the entrepreneurial skills and other habits like savings and so on. The above was a case study in Germany. The character strength and the majority race in the nation are paramount in the determination of the labour market in the economy at large (Fearson & Laitini, 2000).
Research Hypotheses
1 H1. Democracy enhances the economic development
H0. Democracy depresses the economic development
2 H1. Firm Ethnic and cultural identity enhances the economic development
H0. Strong ethnic and cultural identity depresses the economic growth
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the link between economic development and democracy as well the relationship between ethnic/cultural identity and the economic development. In particular, the study will feature the developing countries in the Southern part of Asia.
Research Questions
The research will focus on answering the following questions.
* How does democracy affect the economic development?
* How does ethnic/cultural identity affect the economic development?
* How do democracy and cultural/ethnic identity affect the economic growth?
The study is significant in highlighting the influence of politics/cultural and ethnic on the economic development. A particular case study of South Asia. This study will be used to advocate the better system of governance.
Research Variables
The variables in this study include the ethnic/cultural identity and democracy as the independent variables and the economic development as the dependent variables.
Research Methodology
In answering the above questions, we shall make use of both the primary and the secondary data sources. The relationship will be analysed based on the previous works done on the economic development and cultural issues and as well on empirical studies on the macroeconomic data for the region that is available. The author will make use of the studies that have been conducted elsewhere on the subject to gain an understanding of the nature of the expected relationship. The following variables will be in order to come up with a valid conclusion.
1 Ethnic/cultural identity: this is the dependent variable in the study. We shall make inference to the regions that have strong ethical/cultural identity and compare the economic parameters of those regions. The ethnic/cultural identity will be from demographic data that is available in these countries.
2 Economic development: this is the dependent variable, this is the data where we shall compare the impacts of the cultural/ethnic identity. We shall make the use of gross domestic product and as well the gross domestic product per capita. This is referred to as per capita income.
Studies have shown that the ethnicity and racial characteristics of the residents affect the demographics of the region, and they have the ability to impact on the growth and development of the country. Ethnicity, which is acquired at birth correlates with the social-economic inequalities between the majority and the minority and have political repercussions (Zimmermann, Gataullina, & Amerlie, 2006). There has been an increase in the studies of the relationship between culture/ethnicity and the economic developments.
Ethical Considerations
All ethical issues will be . The demographic data and the analysis thereby have been done in accordance with international Review Board/Ethical Review Board guidance on human rights issues.
Limitations
There exists temporal constraints and as well technical resources to be able to carry out ground visits and as well questionnaires to the populations in those regions. Therefore, most of the accounts and information used in the research will be based on secondary sources especially the demographic data on ethics and cultural identity.
Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis
The region largest economy is that of India. According to the World Bank report, the economy is expected to grow by 6% in the year 2015 and 6.4% in the year 2016. Indian economy that makes up more that 80% in the region is expected to appreciate by 6.4%. According to that report, future economic growth will depend mostly on the performance of the exports and as well on the decisions that are on the investments. The report stated that in spite of the external factors influence on the economic stability, the biggest impact is the domestic developments. These includes issues like the political influence and fiscal policies all of which have the ability to affect the investor's confidence in the region (World Bank, 2014). This stresses the importance of the political influence on the economic growth of the area. The political economy on a case by case is as below;
India: Owing to the recent election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there is a wave of optimism about the economy, and this is expected to stimulate development and growth ...