Impact of Environmental Quality on Health Outcomes in Saudi Arabia: Does Research and Development Matter?

Food insecurity, environment, institutional quality, and health outcomes: evidence from South Asia

BACKGROUND

Food insecurity and environmental degradation pose significant threats to health outcomes in South Asia, necessitating effective policy interventions. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of food insecurity and environmental degradation on health outcome indicators amidst global inflationary shocks and institutional quality arrangements. Additionally, it aims to explore the intricate moderating role of institutional quality on the relationship between food insecurity, endogenous variables, and external shocks.

METHOD

In alignment with the study's objectives, a set of panel data spanning from 2000 to 2021 is compiled for South Asia. The study introduces a novel variable representing inflationary shock, crafted through the integration of inflation datapoints and the application of the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model. Additionally, a distinctive aggregate institutional quality index is formulated, drawing from six key measures of the Worldwide Governance indicators. To scrutinize the effects of food insecurity, environmental degradation, and other explanatory variables, the study employs the two-step system generalized method of moment technique, offering a robust analytical approach to uncover complex relationships and dynamics in the region.

RESULTS

The results indicate that the prevalence of undernourishment, inequality in per capita calorie intake, and CO2 emissions significantly reduce life expectancy and increase mortality rates. Additionally, it shows that per capita kilocalorie supply, per capita GDP, per capita health expenditures, and urbanization are statistically significant for increasing life expectancy and decreasing mortality rates. The findings reveal that inflationary shocks severely affect food insecurity and environmental factors, exerting further pressure on contemporary life expectancy and mortality rates. In rebuttal, the institutional quality index is found to have significant effects on increasing and decreasing life expectancy and mortality rates, respectively. Furthermore, the institutional quality index is effective in moderating the nexus between food insecurity, environmental degradation, and health outcomes while also neutralizing the negative impact of inflationary shocks on the subject.

CONCLUSION

The results verify triple health constraints such as food insecurity, environmental factors, and economic vulnerability to global shocks, which impose severe effects on life expectancy and mortality rates. Furthermore, poor institutional quality is identified as a hindrance to health outcomes in South Asia. The findings suggest specific policy implications that are explicitly discussed.

Dynamic effect of exchange rate depreciation on carbon emission in the Mediterranean basin: fresh insights from linear and non-linear ARDL approaches

The key objective of this study is to explore the relationship between economic growth, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, exchange rate variation, and environmental pollution by carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in 19 coastline Mediterranean countries over the period 1995-2020. We suggest the application of two different approaches, namely, the symmetric autoregressive-distributed lag (ARDL) and the non-linear ARDL (NARDL) model. These methods distinguished from traditional ones by the fact that they assess both the long and short run dynamics among variables. More importantly, the NARDL method is the only technique enabling us to test the asymmetric effects of a shock in independent variables on dependent ones. Our results indicate that the long-term pollution is positively correlated with exchange rate for developed countries and negatively correlated for developing ones. Since environmental degradation in developing countries is more vulnerable to any fluctuation in exchange rate, we suggest that policymakers in Mediterranean developing countries must pay more attention to exchange rate variation as well as boosting renewable energy consumption in order to decrease CO₂ emissions.

The Relationship Between Health Expenditure, CO2 Emissions, and Economic Growth in G7: Evidence from Heterogeneous Panel Data

Τhe current paper examines the relationship between per capita health care expenditures, per capita CO2 emissions, and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in G7 countries. At the beginning, we examine the cross-sectional dependence and the slope homogeneity between the countries. Then, the second-generation unit root test is applied using the Pesaran, CIPS (2007) test, while for the cointegration test, the Westerlund (Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 69(6):709-748, 2007 ) test was applied. The long -run panel cointegration coefficients were analyzed with the augmented mean group (AMG) estimators, which allow the cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity. Finally, the test by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (Economic Modelling 29(4):1450-1460, 2012 ) was used in order to check for causality taking into account the heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence on panel data. The preliminary analyses show that variables are cross-sectional-dependant and heterogenous and are first-order stationary. Cointegration test by Westerlund (Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 69(6):709-748, 2007 ) which allows heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence show that there is a stable and long-run relationship between variables. Moreover, the long-run coefficients which were estimated with the AMG approach are found to be statistically significant and positive for the GDP per capita, and negative in the case of greenhouse gas emissions per capita. Finally, causality test by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (Economic Modelling 29(4):1450-1460, 2012 ) revealed a unilateral causality from greenhouse gas emissions per capita towards health expenditure per capita for all G7 countries.