Financing sources and social development: an empirical analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse, from an empirical point of view, the importance of each of the main sources of funding in developing countries (foreign direct investment, official development assistance, external debt and remittances) in achieving sustainable, social and inclusive development. Design/methodology/approach The methodology followed to achieve this purpose is the construction of three econometric models. The general model incorporates as a dependent variable the Human Development Index (HDI) and, as explanatory variables, the four sources of funding indicated above, as well as three exogenous variables (human capital, corruption and natural resources). This model is complemented by two extensions that aim to analyse the behaviour of explanatory variables in reducing inequalities and improving each of the HDI components. Findings The results of the estimations of the econometric models show that foreign direct investment and remittances are the sources of funding with the greatest impact on achieving development. Moreover, official development assistance while not making a positive contribution to the achievement of development as a whole, could be adequate to reduce inequalities. Originality/value The added value of this paper consists in carrying out a joint analysis of these four sources of funding because previous researches focussed the attention on some of them, drawing partial conclusions. The conclusion of this study is that the four sources of funding analysed can be considered complementary to promote sustainable and inclusive development, although foreign direct investment has a much more important role.