The electrification-social development nexus in Bangladesh: Do governmental policies matter?

Electrification can advance sustainability and social development. This study investigates the contribution of electrification to various aspects of societal development, i.e., educational development, human development, and gender inequality, within the purview of economic globalization, economic growth, and governmental policies in Bangladesh, covering the data during 1990–2019. Employing the dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) simulation approach, we have established a positive impact of electricity on the decomposed parameters of social development in Bangladesh. Finally, we employ the DARDL simulation-based counterfactual analysis procedure, testing the effects of 1% and 5% (±) shocks to the regressors and their effects on the dependent variables. • We examine the role of electrification in Bangladesh's social development. • We utilize the dynamic ARDL simulation co-integration and counterfactual techniques. • We find the favourable effect of electrification on societal dynamics. • Economic globalization and economic growth have a positive role in social development. • Governmental policy has a heterogenous impact on social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]