Conditional effect of governance quality on the finance-environment nexus in a multivariate EKC framework: evidence from the method of moments-quantile regression with fixed-effects models

Does rural transformation affect rural income inequality? Insights from cross-district panel data analysis in Bangladesh

Rural transformation plays a crucial role in enhancing the income and employment prospects of the rural labor force. We investigate the effects of rural transformation on rural income inequality at the district level in Bangladesh using data from five years of nationally representative Household Income and Expenditure Surveys. The Gini coefficient is used to measure rural income inequality. In contrast, the share of high-value agricultural outputs and the share of rural non-farm employment are used as indicators of rural transformation. We find that rural income inequality is positively associated with the share of high-value agricultural outputs and the share of rural non-farm employment. The non-linear regression result shows an inverted U-shaped relationship between rural transformation and income inequality, which indicates that income inequality initially increases with rural transformation but decreases in the long run. Additionally, we find that rural income inequality is positively correlated with the proportion of household education expenditures, agricultural rental activity, and the share of remittances. This study also reveals that income inequality in rural areas of Bangladesh has a significant negative correlation with the government's social safety net program.

Green innovation, globalization, financial development, and CO2 emissions: the role of governance as a moderator in South Asian countries

The current study is designed to analyze the relationship between, environmental innovations, globalization, financial development, and CO₂ emissions in the South Asian region over the period of 1996 to 2019. In this regard, the role of governance is also incorporated as a moderator along with Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The sample size includes Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The results of the robust least square show the validity of EKC in the sample countries. Environmental innovations show desirable results on CO₂ emissions, while globalization, financial development, and governance are increasing environmental degradation. The role of governance as a moderator is only effective and favorable with environmental innovation. However, in the case of globalization and financial development, governance appeared to be ineffective in lessening the rate of emissions; rather, it contributes to emissions. It clearly shows the missing link in formulating coherent policy to achieve sustainability targets. Therefore, it is desirable to improve the role of governance with respect to environmental policies not only to handle directly environmental issues but also indirectly while promoting the process of globalization and financial development.

Economic growth and greenhouse gases in Brazilian States: is the environmental Kuznets curve applicable hypothesis?

The aim of this study was to analyze the existence of the Kuznets environmental curve (EKC) hypothesis for a diverse spectrum of environmental pollutants (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) from the Brazilian states from 1980 to 2020. In the Kuznets hypothesis, economic growth, represented by GDP per capita, grows inflection in relation to environmental degradation. Upon reaching a certain point, the relationship becomes inversely opposite, being a positive trend of growth and a retract to environmental indicators, as in the case of greenhouse gases. The application of regression models in strict observance of Grossman and Krueger's EKC econometric model (1995) allowed a critical analysis of the Brazilian empirical model relative to pollutant emissions. The results show the corroboration of the EKC hypothesis for carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, but not methane gas. Additionally, the discussion on the subject was extended to the debate about Brazil on the world stage. Brazil is on the world stage as a major influencer in environmental issues, so everything empirically contributes, both to academia and public managers, by presenting evidence of the relationship of economic growth aligned with sustainable development. Thus, the study provides contributions to professionals, researchers, and international readers. On the other hand, this study shows as political implications the need for improvements and reformulations of environmental policies in favor of mitigating environmental degradation.

Asymmetric effects of economic policy uncertainty and environmental policy stringency on environmental quality: evidence from China and the United States

The importance of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and environmental policy stringency (EPS) in affecting environmental quality is gaining great attention in the literature. However, none of the existing studies has thought to investigate their combined effects on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Additionally, the individual investigations into the nexuses EPU-emissions and EPS-emissions primarily took a symmetric assumption between these variables into consideration. The current paper is an early attempt to close these gaps by examining the combined effects of economic policy uncertainty and environmental policy stringency on CO2 emissions within asymmetric (nonlinear) frameworks in China and the United States (US). The empirical findings indicate that an improvement in EPU degrades the environmental quality in both countries. However, a negative shift in EPU decreases emissions in China while increasing them in the US. In terms of EPS, the estimates in the two nations led to similar results. A positive change in EPS is conducive to fewer emissions, whereas a negative change worsens environmental damage. These findings still hold with the sensitivity analysis using ecological footprint as an alternative gauge of environmental destruction. This study, therefore, suggests that both nations adopt stricter environmental policies. Additionally, Chinese policymakers should work to lessen uncertainty shocks, while the US government should promote more transparent economic policies.

Urbanization and CO2 emissions in Belt and Road Initiative economies: analyzing the mitigating effect of human capital in Asian countries

Balanced and sustainable development is one of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) objectives. Therefore, considering the role of urbanization and human capital as critical elements for sustainable development, we analyzed the moderating effect of human capital on the relationship between urbanization and CO₂ emissions in Asian member countries of the Belt and Road Initiative. In doing so, we used the STIRPAT framework and the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. We also employed the pooled OLS estimator with the Driscoll-Kraay's robust standard errors, the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS), and the two-stage least square (2SLS) estimators in the case of 30 BRI countries for the period 1980-2019. The relationship between urbanization, human capital, and carbon dioxide emissions were examined first by showing a positive correlation between urbanization and carbon dioxide emissions. Secondly, we showed that human capital mitigated the positive effect of urbanization on CO₂ emissions. Next, we demonstrated that human capital had an inverted U-shaped effect on CO₂ emissions. Specifically, a 1% increase in urbanization rose CO₂ emissions by 0.756%, 0.943%, and 0.592% following the Driscoll-Kraay's OLS, the FGLS, and the 2SLS estimators, respectively. A 1% increase in the combination of human capital and urbanization reduced CO₂ by 0.751%, 0.834%, and 0.682%, respectively. Finally, a 1% increase in the square of human capital decreased CO₂ emissions by 1.061%, 1.045%, and 0.878%, respectively. Accordingly, we provide policy implications on the conditional influence of human capital in the urbanization-CO₂ emission nexus for sustainable development in these countries.

Dynamic changes in provincial exhaust emissions in China in the carbon peak and neutrality setting: based on the effects of energy consumption and economic growth

Reducing exhaust emissions, promoting economic development, and realizing clean energy utilization have always been concerns in China. To measure the relationship between them, this study selects the data related to energy consumption, economic growth, and exhaust emissions from 2000 to 2019 in 30 Chinese provinces. By constructing a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model, the dynamic relationship between them in China is quantitatively analyzed. The results show that there is a long-term interaction between energy consumption, economic growth, and exhaust emissions. Among them, economic growth is highly dependent on energy consumption, but it can promote the reduction of exhaust emissions. However, energy consumption will produce a large amount of industrial waste, such as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide emissions. Specifically, the industrial structure and energy structure have the most obvious impact on reducing industrial sulfur dioxide emissions and carbon emissions, with the proportion between 0.071-0.090 and 0.031-0.032, respectively. Therefore, the adjustment of industrial structure and energy structure is the key to exhaust emission reduction.