The paper empirically examines the effects of trade liberalization on undernourishment and income inequality in South Asian countries ( SAC s). For empirical analysis data is collected for the period 1972-2013 for five South Asian countries which include Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Panel fixed effect technique is used to estimate the model. The estimated results reveal that undernourishment has decreased while income inequality has increased in the region after liberalization. Economic development has reduced both undernourishment and income inequality. The results also endorse the role of agriculture factors in reducing undernourishment and the role of education, urban bias, and political democratization in reducing income inequality in SAC s. These results are robust to alternative equation specifications and openness measures. The results provide some important policy implications. It is suggested that South Asian countries have to cope with the problem of malnourishment with high agriculture development and economic growth.

中文翻译：

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南亚的贸易开放度，营养不良和收入不平等

本文从经验上考察了贸易自由化对南亚国家（SAC）的食物不足和收入不平等的影响。为了进行实证分析，收集了包括孟加拉国，印度，尼泊尔，巴基斯坦和斯里兰卡在内的五个南亚国家1972-2013年的数据。面板固定效应技术用于估计模型。估计结果表明，自由化后，该区域的食物不足人数减少了，而收入不平等加剧了。经济发展减少了食物不足和收入不平等。研究结果还支持了农业因素在减少营养不足方面的作用，以及教育，城市偏见和政治民主化在减少SAC收入不平等方面的作用。这些结果对于替代方程式规范和开放性度量具有鲁棒性。结果提供了一些重要的政策含义。建议南亚国家必须解决伴随高农业发展和经济增长的营养不良问题。