Do education and health influence economic growth and food security Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

This study aims to explore the impact of education and health on economic growth and food security (FS) in Bangladesh. It employs economic growth rate, expenditure on education as a proxy for education, expenditure on health as a proxy for health, and fertility rate, infant mortality rate and prevalence of undernourishment as proxies for FS. Descriptive statistics are used to measure the FS indices. Engle-Granger cointegration is applied to determine the long run and short run relationships among variables, using World Bank data for the period 1998-2017. Cointegration results confirm the existence of short run as well as long run positive relationships between education spending and economic growth. The findings suggest that education has a direct link with FS, which has various dimensions, including access to food; if the population are educated; they are empowered and able to access food both by market and non-market mechanisms.