Relationship between Health, Education and Labour Productivity in South Asia

Abstract

This study aims to assess the relationship between health, education, and labour productivity for five South Asian countries over 1991-2019 by applying the Ordinary Least Square (OLS), Fixed Effects (FE) model, Random Effects (RE) model, and the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The study confirms that health and education are increasing factors of labour productivity. The empirical results showed that health, measured by prevalence of undernourishment, education, and physical capital, is helpful in enhancing productivity of labour, while increasing the number of workers is inversely related to labour productivity. The study recommends that South Asian countries should focus on the improvement of health facilities and educational institutes to boost the efficiency of their labour force which can lead to economic growth.