The dependence of energy intensity (energy/GDP ratio) on the economic growth is studied in details for the panel of South Asian economies. Typically, it is assumed that for the technological advanced developed economies a negative relationship between energy intensity and economic growth is valid due to declining trends of energy intensity and in developing economies positive relationship between energy intensity and economic growth is valid. However, if the trend effects are removed, the growth effects may not be energy saving in under developed world. This is the main hypothesis of this study. In order to test this hypothesis, we use de-trend energy intensity (trend effect is removed). We found positive relationship between de-trended energy intensity and economic growth for the panel of underdeveloped south Asian economies. These results suggest that the energy saving options for south Asian countries are very small. Therefore, we find the cost of converting energy into GDP high in the developing economies of south Asia.

During the last two decades, energy poverty has captured the growing attention of researchers and policymakers due to its strong association with economic poverty and poor economic performance. This study uses a broad set of macro level indicators and makes the first attempt to measure energy poverty and its impact on economic growth of Pakistan over the period of 1990 to 2017. Our energy poverty indicator considers four main dimensions of energy poverty, namely, energy services, clean energy, energy governance and energy affordability. A composite value of the energy poverty index shows that although the overall energy poverty has reduced in Pakistan during the selected sample period, the country shows an increasing dependence on polluted energy supply to meet its growing energy demand. In the second stage of investigation, the study tests the neoclassical growth theory where we incorporate energy poverty along with human capital as a source of economic growth. The main findings show a stable short-run cointegration between energy poverty and economic growth. These strong negative linkages between energy poverty and economic growth for the sample economy complement the previous literature on the subject.

The contemporaneous study investigates the directional relationship between economic growth and energy consumption for four selected SAARC nations from 1990 to 2018 within a panel-data framework. In the empirical literature, conservation, growth, feedback, and neutral hypotheses exist between energy and economic growth. First, study implies a Granger causality test to find the short-run directional relationship. Secondly, it checks the order of panel unit root that is a prerequisite condition for cointegration particularly when we have a long panel.  In the end, based on panel unit root, the study estimates the model with the help of FMOLS to find a long-run relationship. The present study explores the conservation hypothesis in the short run at the regional level for Bangladesh and Pakistan. While the feedback hypothesis and neutral hypothesis exist in case of India and Sri-Lanka respectively. On the other hand, in the long run, there is cointegration between economic growth and energy use, while the direction conforms to the feedback hypothesis in our panel after allowing heterogeneous cross-sectional effect. Thus, energy and economic growth are coupled with each other in the long run at a regional level whereas, energy as a factor of the production process does not contribute significantly in the short run. It is because this region is labour abundant, therefore, the share of energy is significantly low in the final output as compared to developed nations. Consequently, the availability of energy at affordable prices truly matters for developing nations of SAARC.

Summary: The governance at the national level has commonly been measured as poor or good governance by researchers in the area of public sector reforms. They have rarely attempted the numeric estimation of the concept but used different socioeconomic indicators as proxies. Governance is a multidimensional concept that cannot be accurately elaborated by a single indicator. In the literature there exists a gap for gauging the governance in the form of an index. The current study has attempted to ameliorate different dimensions of governance by including forty two social, political, economic, demographic and environmental indicators. These indicators are firstly merged into thirteen sub-dimensions and then into five dimensions. The dimensions have been transformed in to governance index. The trend of the index shows that governance has not only progressed very slowly but it remained desperate in the study period. The contribution of this study is to provide governance index named KU index for Pakistan in annual time series for the years 1980-81 to 2010-2011. The index explained the level of governance in different eras and is ultimately connected with public sector reforms. It can be used by researchers as an explanatory factor for various political, socioeconomic and regional strategic phenomenon. Furthermore, the criterion of estimation of governance may be adopted for other economies and comparative analysis may be done.Рeзимe: Упрaвљaњe нa нaциoнaлнoм нивoу je oбичнo oцjeњивaнo oд стрaнe истрaживaчa у oблaсти рeфoрми jaвнoг сeктoрa кao дoбрo или лoшe. Oни су риjeткo пoкушaвaли нумeричку прoцjeну кoнцeптa, вeћ су кoристили рaзличитe сoциo-eкoнoмскe пoкaзaтeљe кao приближнe вриjeднoсти. Упрaвљaњe je мултидимeнзиoнaлни кoнцeпт кojи сe нe мoжe прeцизнo oбjaснити сaмo jeдним индикaтoрoм. У литeрaтури пoстojи jaз у мjeрeњу упрaвљaњa у oблику индeксa. Tрeнутнa студиja je пoкушaлa ублaжити рaзличитe димeнзиje упрaвљaњa укључуjући чeтрдeсeт двa друштвeнa, пoлитичкa, eкoнoмскa, дeмoгрaфскa и eкoлoшкa пoкaзaтeљa. Oви пoкaзaтeљи су првo спojeни у тринaeст пoддимeнзиja и oндa у пeт димeнзиja. Димeнзиje су прeтвoрeнe у индeкс упрaвљaњa. Tрeнд индeксa пoкaзуje дa je упрaвљaњe нe сaмo нaпрeдoвaлo врлo спoрo, вeћ je билo лoшe у пoсмaтрaнoм пeриoду. Дoпринoс oвe студиje je oмoгућити индeкс упрaвљaњa пoд нaзивoм KU индeкс Пaкистaнa зa гoдишњe пeриoдe: 1980-1981. и 2010-2011. Индeкс je oбjaсниo нивoe упрaвљaњa у рaзличитим пeриoдимa, тe je пoвeзaн с рeфoрмaмa jaвнoг сeктoрa. Moжe сe кoристити oд стрaнe истрaживaчa кao oбjaшњaвajући фaктoр зa рaзнe пoлитичкe, друштвeнo-eкoнoмскe и рeгиoнaлнe стрaтeшкe фeнoмeнe. Нaдaљe, критeриjум прoцjeнe упрaвљaњa мoжe бити усвojeн зa другe eкoнoмиje и мoгу сe урaдити кoмпaрaтивнe aнaлизe.

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