Genetic structure, consanguineous marriages and economic development: Panel cointegration and panel cointegration neural network analyses

Consanguineous marriages and their effects on human beings in light of biological effects of genetic sicknesses are discussed in many studies. Among many, the likelihood of sicknesses such as phenylketonuria, thalassemia, Landsteiner–Fanconi–Anderson’s syndrome, hemophilia and many neuro system anomalies increase drastically in countries with consanguineous marriage practices resulting in increasing economic costs. In the study, we aimed to analyze the effects of consanguineous marriage and its effect on economic growth and development. We also analyzed infant mortality in these countries in light of consanguineous marriages and economic development. In the study, Panel Cointegration specifications are integrated into Neural Network models known with their strong generalization properties. The study focuses the econometric analyses, where the Panel Cointegration Neural Network Model is investigated and compared to the Panel Cointegration Model. According to MSE, MAE and RMSE error criteria and Diebold Mariano tests of equal forecast accuracy, the results suggest strong advantages of Panel Cointegration MLP models compared to Panel Cointegration models used in regression analysis. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.