Unemployment Alleviation: Does Social Overhead Capital Matter? An Empirical Evidence From SAARC Countries

The main objective of the present study is to reduce unemployment considering the role of social overhead capital in the SAARC countries. The study is based on the panel data covering the time period 2000 to 2018. Different forms of social over head capital like Transportation infrastructure, Telecommunication sector infrastructure, social sector infrastructure, Financial penetration and renewable energy sources are used in the research. Panel cointegration techniques and Fully Modified OLS method are employed for estimation. The research concludes that the all forms of infrastructure are compatible with theory and highly significant for unemployment mitigation. It is suggested that the SAARC economies should develop social overhead capital and formulate the joint policies to investment more in telecommunication sector energy sector and social sector infrastructure like health and education.