ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ITS DETERMINANTS: A CROSS-COUNTRY EVIDENCE

Empirical evidence from a panel of 126 countries, over the time period of 2010 to 2014, indicates that economic growth is dependent on various factors. This paper finds that government expenditure control, reduced inflation and increased trade openness are the factors that boost the economic growth of a country. Significant evidence is seen for government consumption, fiscal policy and trade openness. No significant relationship has been observed between exchange rate and economic growth, whereas unemployment influences output for African countries. The cross regional analysis of Asian, European, African, Caribbean, and American countries gives specific determinants for these regions. Economic growth is also analysed in developing, developed, least developed, Muslim and petroleum exporting and emerging countries. The results of this study validate the dependence of economic growth on various factors. Fiscal balance has shown a consistent positive relationship with economic growth throughout the analyses. Fiscal balance and unemployment rate played their role in the growth of African countries. Inflation rates and increased openness were significant for some regions. Exchange rate did not return significant coefficients for any of the sub-regions. Government consumption, trade openness, policy interest rate and industrial production rate showed significant effect for different regions of the world.