Rural Migration and Income Inequality in South Asian Countries: An Econometric Descriptive Analysis
Jamil Ahmad *
Department of Economics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P, India.
Abukasim
Department of Economics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P, India.
Abid Hussain
Department of Economics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The United Nations projects that by 2050, over 64% of Asian regions would be urban. Moreover, during the last few decades, several nations and regions have seen a rise in economic disparity owing to migration. Others find a non-linear link between rural migration and income disparity and dependent on the level of growth. In this way, to find the extent of inequality in the developing countries, South Asian nations continue to be understudied. This article used a balanced panel dataset for eight South Asian nations from 1995 to 2022 to explore the correlation between rural migration and income inequality to determine the amount of inequality. The panel supports Kuznets' inverted-U hypothesis by showing a negative link between growth and income inequality. Additionally, econometric results display a negative relationship between income inequality and rural migration in all three models. Therefore, policy makers should focus on the public policy should prioritize to providing educational opportunities, health care, and other social amenities in rural communities.
Keywords: Rural migration, income inequality, Gini index, South Asia, panel data, Kuznets' inverted-U hypothesis