Income inequality, economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions nexus: empirical evidence from Ethiopia

Exploring the impact of climate technology, financial inclusion and renewable energy on ecological footprint: Evidence from top polluted economies

Most South Asian countries' economies have grown dramatically during the past few decades. However, in light of their environmental sustainability goals, the quality of such growth performances by South Asian nations is called into doubt by the concurrent degradation in environmental quality. Consequently, reducing the environmental challenges these nations encounter is prioritized on the agendas of the relevant authorities. This study aimed to analyze the effect of the top 11 most polluted countries' levels of financial inclusion, technological innovation, consumption of renewable energy, and adoption of climate technology on environmental deterioration from 2000 to 2022. Therefore, this research aims to use cutting-edge panel data econometric techniques to investigate the factors contributing to high carbon footprints in the world's most polluted nations. The results support an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and carbon footprints, crediting the environmental Kuznets curve concept. In addition, it has been shown that TECH, REC, and CT can reduce carbon footprints in both the short and long term, while GDP and financial inclusion only affect carbon footprints in the long term. The results further endorsed the pollution haven hypothesis by showing that GDP positively affects carbon footprint. As a result, leading polluting economies need to strengthen their financial sectors, create green technology, migrate to renewable energy, and limit financial inclusion to improve environmental quality.

The effects of carbon inequality on economic growth: new evidence from MENA region

This study emphasizes the impact of carbon inequality on the economic growth of Middle East-North African (MENA) economies from 1995 to 2019. By employing the panel cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lags method (Chudik and Pesaran 2015), we explored the effect of the carbon footprint of top-income classes on economic performance in both the short and long term. The empirical results assume that carbon inequality indicators boost economic growth in the short and long run. In other words, economic growth may be slowed when carbon inequality is reduced. Our study has important implications for climate policy in the MENA region. In this context, relying on a carbon tax can increase business costs and reduce investment incentives leading to a decline in growth. Governments should adopt a more comprehensive approach incorporating other policy instruments such as nudging techniques, financial incentives, and public awareness campaigns. As a result, wealthy people will be encouraged to promote sustainable choices and behaviors that guarantee the progressive transition to low-carbon activities without hurting economic growth.

How can environmental degradation and income disparities influence national health: an eye bird view on China's provinces

Growing socio-economic disparity is a global issue that could disturb community health. Numerous case studies have examined the health influences of income disparities as well as the patterns that implicate those disparities. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the core determinants of mortality rate, which are environmental degradation, green energy, health expenditures, and technology (ICT) for the 25 provinces of China over the period of 2005-2020. This study uses a series of estimators to investigate the preferred objectives in which CS-ARDL and common correlated effect mean group (CCE-MG). Estimated results show the significant contribution of environmental deterioration and income inequality to the mortality rate. Furthermore, health expenditures, ICT, and green energy significantly reduce the mortality rate. Similarly, the moderate effect of income inequality on health expenditure, green energy, and ICT significantly reduces the mortality rate in selected provinces of China. More interestingly, the current study suggests policy implications to reduce the rising trend of mortality rate.

Uncovering the impact of income inequality and population aging on carbon emission efficiency: An empirical analysis of 139 countries

Income inequality and carbon emission efficiency are the primary issues that need to be addressed to achieve UN sustainable development goals. However, research on the relationship between income inequality and carbon emission efficiency has not received enough attention. To more comprehensively understand how income inequality affects carbon emission efficiency, and how aging and economic growth affect the relationship between income inequality and carbon emissions efficiency, fixed effect regression estimation and threshold effect regression estimation approaches are developed based on panel data of 139 countries from 1998 to 2018. The results show that: (i) there is an inhibitory effect of income inequality on the improvement of carbon emission efficiency; (ii) under the influence of aging, there is a U-shaped relationship between income inequality and carbon emission efficiency, that is, income inequality has an inhibitory effect on the improvement of carbon emission efficiency before promoting it; (iii) along with the rapid economic growth, the inhibitory effect of income inequality on carbon emission efficiency increases, that is, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between income inequality and carbon emission efficiency. Finally, we combine the changes in spatial and temporal distributions to propose corresponding policy recommendations.

The role of economic policy uncertainty and social welfare in the view of ecological footprint: evidence from the traditional and novel platform in panel ARDL approaches

In the contemporary world, environmental degradation has become a concern for human beings. Accordingly, the impact of social welfare, economic policy uncertainty, natural resource rents, life expectancy, and trade openness are examined on ecological footprint (the most comprehensive proxy of environmental degradation) in 19 energy-intensive countries from 1997 to 2018. With this in mind, this study used the traditional panel ARDL and CS-ARDL approaches to evaluate how the study's variables influence ecological footprint. Notably, the results of the CS-ARDL approach are more robust due to cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity problems. The outcomes revealed that economic policy uncertainty and trade openness affect the ecological footprint negatively in the short run and positively in the long run. Moreover, social welfare degrades the environment in the long run, and natural resource rents improve environmental quality by mitigating the ecological footprint in the short run and harming the environment in the long run. Besides, life expectancy does not significantly affect ecological footprint in the long or short run. Meanwhile, the results confirmed the bi-directional causal relationship between the study's variable and ecological footprint. Based on the outcomes, the way to adopt effective policies to improve the quality of the environment has been paved. Furthermore, a comprehensive policy framework for stricter environmental regulation is expected to be developed using the outcomes derived from this study.

Spatial Differences and Influential Factors of Urban Carbon Emissions in China under the Target of Carbon Neutrality

Cities are areas featuring a concentrated population and economy and are major sources of carbon emissions (CEs). The spatial differences and influential factors of urban carbon emissions (UCEs) need to be examined to reduce CEs and achieve the target of carbon neutrality. This paper selected 264 cities at the prefecture level in China from 2008 to 2018 as research objects. Their UCEs were calculated by the CE coefficient, and the spatial differences in them were analyzed using exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA). The influential factors of UCEs were studied with Geodetector. The results are as follows: (1) The UCEs were increasing gradually. Cities with the highest CEs over the study period were located in the urban agglomerations of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and Chengdu–Chongqing. (2) The UCEs exhibited certain global and local spatial autocorrelations. (3) The industrial structure was the dominant factor influencing UCEs.

The Impact of Public, Private, and Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditures on Under-Five Mortality in Malaysia

Health financing in Malaysia is intensely subsidised by public funding and is increasingly sourced by household out-of-pocket financing, yet the under-five mortality rate has been gradually increasing in the last decade. In this context, this study aims to investigate the relationship between public, private, and out-of-pocket health expenditures and the under-five mortality rate in Malaysia using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) estimation technique, whereby critical test values are recalculated using the response surface method for a time-series data of 22 years. The findings reveal that out-of-pocket health expenditure deteriorates the under-five mortality rate in Malaysia, while public and private health expenditures are statistically insignificant. Therefore, an effective health financing safety net may be an option to ensure an imperative child health outcome.

The Nexus among Energy Consumption, Economic Growth and Trade Openness: Evidence from West Africa

The West African region has experienced high economic development. With the increasing energy consumption and emissions, how to coordinate the relationship among energy consumption, trade opening, and economic growth, and how to develop a low-carbon development pattern are becoming the most important issues in West Africa. This paper uses the tri-variable Toda-Yamamoto model to investigate the dynamic interactions among energy consumption, economic growth, and trade in West Africa. The findings indicate that, first, the positive impact of energy consumption on economic growth in West Africa has shown a significant lag effect, and energy consumption has a strong trade-dependent relationship to economic promotion. Trade opening and economic growth in West Africa are mutually reinforcing in the long run. Next, the role of foreign trade in boosting economic growth is more significant in countries with lower levels of economic development. Finally, when replacing the energy consumption indicator with CO2 emissions, the results remain robust. Considering the regional development differences, grouping countries by GDP per capita reveals that there exists a bilateral causal relationship between energy consumption and trade openness in the higher economic development group. The impact of trade openness on economic growth is more remarkable in countries with lower levels of economic development in West Africa. The findings have important implications for policymakers in understanding the economic development pattern of West Africa. It is necessary for West African countries to develop an integrated energy and trade policy in order to maintain long-term sustainable economic growth.

Income inequality and environmental degradation in Egypt: evidence from dynamic ARDL approach

Over the past four decades, the Egyptian economy has suffered from both income inequality and environmental degradation. This dual problem raises the question about the nature of the relationship between inequality and the environment in a developing country like Egypt. In this regard, the study aims to examine the impact of income inequality on carbon emissions during the period 1975-2017. The analysis considers the ability of the political economy approach compared to the Keynesian trade-off approach to explain the inequality-environment relationship in Egypt. To do this, the novel dynamic autoregressive distributed lags approach is employed to capture the short-run and long-run relationships and to overcome the complications associated with the structure of the widely used autoregressive distributive lags model. The findings show that the relationship between inequality and CO₂ emissions is not a trade-off. Rather, inequality leads to environmental deterioration in the long run, but there is no significant effect in the short run. In the long run, a 1% rise in the Gini coefficient increases CO₂ emissions by 2.28%. These results support the political economy approach in explaining the inequality-environment nexus. Hence, the economic development policies adopted in Egypt during the past four decades have led to a negative impact on the environment. The study advises economic policy makers in Egypt to adopt income redistribution policies to reduce the severity of income inequality. Improving income distribution has a positive effect on the environment in Egypt.

Exploring the Road toward Environmental Sustainability: Natural Resources, Renewable Energy Consumption, Economic Growth, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Despite the fact that China’s economy has grown swiftly since the reform and opening up, the problem of environmental degradation in China has become increasingly significant. Therefore, this paper uses China as an example to examine the dynamic relationship between the highlighted variables (renewable energy consumption, economic growth, oil rent, and natural resources) and greenhouse gas emissions (a proxy for environmental sustainability). Using annual data over the period 1971–2018 and employing the auto-regressive distributed lag bounds approach to perform an empirical analysis, the results suggest that there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between the highlighted variables and greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, renewable energy consumption and oil rent contribute to environmental sustainability because of their negative effects on greenhouse gas emissions. On the contrary, economic growth and natural resources hinder environmental sustainability due to their positive effects on greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, using the fully modified ordinary least squares approach and dynamic ordinary least squares approach to conduct a robustness test, the results also support the previous findings. To conclude, the findings of this paper may provide some solutions for China’s environmental sustainability.

Financing for energy efficiency solutions to mitigate opportunity cost of coal consumption: An empirical analysis of Chinese industries

This study measures the energy rebound effects of Chinese energy and coal power use in Chinese energy-intensive industries by using latent class stochastic frontier models like LMDI, and other various econometric estimation approach for coal-supplying regions in China ranging between 1992 and 2018. The findings reveals that China's coal sector's average capacity consumption is 0.81%, with a pattern of first increasing and then decreasing, falling to 0.68% in 2016 specifically. The coal capacity operation rate concerning low as well as depleted regions is generally strong, with limited space for expansion. In 2015 and 2016, the utilization rate of coal production potential in moderate-producing areas fell about 42%. Economic development variables affect the capacity utilization levels of moderate, weak, and depleted generating regions. At the same time, the price volatility cannot induce a practical improvement in the ability utilization rate, which means that China's coal industry is mainly un-marketized. China's energy efficiency increased about 19.98% among 2000 and 2016, while the rapidest expansion pattern has been noted in the eastern province at 39.86%, next to central (11.71%) and western regions (9.59%). The take back impact via the renewable energy and renewable productivity channels is estimated as 12.34% and 25.40%, respectively. Therefore, the take back impact is of significant importance regarding energy preservation, as China's cumulative renewable energy use is equal to China's aggregate energy use. On such findings, recent research also contributed by presenting novel policy implications for key stakeholders.