Does Inclusive Growth Contribute Towards Sustainable Development? Evidence from Selected Developing Countries

In recent years, debates on sustainable economic development have highlighted the importance of comprehensive growth especially in developing countries. Inclusive growth is widely seen as a key ingredient for sustainable development. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. The current study examines the level of inclusive growth and sustainable development and association among them in 11 selected developing countries for the year 2008 and 2018. We extract key factors on variables of interest from 7 pillars of inclusive growth level and United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by using the Principal Components Analysis and the Multivariate Analysis. The key results highlight that Turkey and China have achieved highest while Pakistan and Indonesia represent the lowest level of inclusive growth. Similarly, Brazil and Pakistan show the lowest while Cambodia and Thailand hold the highest rank on sustainable development level. The empirical findings show high value of negative correlation coefficients between social inclusion of inclusive growth and prevalence of poverty with life-threatening factors of sustainable development. Similarly, a high positive value between unsatisfactory medical services, education and state transparency of inclusive growth; poverty and its consequences of sustainable development further confirms the robustness of association among variables of interest our. A strong recommendation on improving the inclusive growth as policy strategy is suggested in developing countries to further enhance the sustainable development.