Does press freedom cause human development? Examining Bangladesh

Abstract

The study investigates the casual relationship between press freedom and human development in Bangladesh by using data from the Reporters Without Borders and United Nations Development Programme over the period 2002–2014. The modified causality test “Toda–Yamamoto” has been applied to analyze the data. Though, it is widely believed that press freedom and development go hand in hand, the results suggest that there is no evidence of causal relationship either from freedom of the press and human development in Bangladesh. This implies that in the long-run, press freedom does not cause human development and vice versa. This result is obvious for the country as it is still lag behind in achieving improvements to this two –press freedom and human development. Thus, the causal relationship between the two is not established in Bangladesh. This study suggests for shaping appropriate policies to advance press freedom in the country and thereby human development should be redefined considering improvements in press freedom.

Keywords:

• press freedom
• human development
• media
• Bangladesh

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aminul Islam

Aminul Islam is a Journalism Lecturer at the Varendra University, Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

Ataul Gani Osmani

Ataul Gani Osmani is an Economics Lecturer at the Varendra University, Rajshahi, Bangladesh.