Broadband-Growth Relationship in Asian Perspective: A Revisit Using System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and Panel Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (Pfmols)

During last two decades, broadband gained an integral stature in digital infrastructure of countries around the globe. The investigation of broadband and economic growth nexus has been scarce for Asian countries, Mehmood and Mustafa (2014). This paper re-examines the broadband-growth nexus for Asian countries using a more statistically rigorous technique known as System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). This methodology permits the use of data with heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation and uses instrumental variables to cope with endogeneity. Results show the role of broadband as a contributor to economic growth. Moreover, to solidify the results obtained from GMM, we use panel cointegration and panel Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (PFMOLS) to estimate cointegration equations. The results of these techniques are corroborated by the results of panel Granger causality test. This suggests to include the policy steps for technology transfer with proper planning and allocation of broadband technology to common masses for a digital Asian region.