Spatial effect of biomass energy consumption on carbon emissions reduction: the role of globalization

As globalization proceeds, increasing biomass energy consumption is an important pathway to replace fossil fuels for tackling climate change by reducing emissions. This study explores the spatial spillover effect in biomass energy carbon reduction, which is frequently ignored when investigating environmental factors. It uncovers whether globalization and its dimensions can strengthen the spatial effect of biomass energy carbon reduction. Besides, we reveal whether biomass energy consumption can promote CO2 emissions reduction while ensuring economic progress. Results show that (1) owing to the spillover effect, biomass energy consumption plays a significant role in direct and indirect enhancing carbon emissions reduction, with their feedback effects of - 0.003 or 3.3% of the direct effect. (2) Increasing overall, social and political globalization enhances biomass energy consumption's carbon reduction effect. (3) In countries with higher economic development, overall, economic and political globalization has a better promotion in the spatial effect of biomass energy carbon reduction. (4) Developing biomass energy can support the environment quality while enhancing economic growth.

Linking clean energy consumption, globalization, and financial development to the ecological footprint in a developing country: Insights from the novel dynamic ARDL simulation techniques

Developing countries have been facing economic difficulties for over three and a half decades due to numerous factors, including fossil fuel consumption and dwindling biocapacity. It is necessary to pinpoint the factors that may be culpable for poor environmental quality leading to a rising ecological footprint (EFP). This study explores the effect of clean energy, financial development (FDV), and globalization on the EFP in a developing country using the novel dynamic ARDL simulation techniques and the bootstrap causality test. The findings suggest that green energy has no meaningful impact on the EFP. Globalization and FDV significantly reduce the EFP by 0.25% and 0.08%, respectively. Besides, the findings confirm the existence of the EKC hypothesis. Furthermore, the causality results affirm a unidirectional causality from globalization and FDV to EFP, while economic growth drives globalization. Also, a one-way causality flows from globalization to FDV, just as FDV Granger causes green energy. In line with the findings, the study recommends that public policies focus on funding environmental-friendly technologies and green innovations. The funding must be on recently developed energy-saving technologies that can ensure complementarity between increased economic growth and environmental deterioration.

The effect of renewable energy on carbon emissions through globalization

The sustainability of the environment debate cannot be addressed without considering the type of energy to use. The pace at which the world is industrializing, globalizing, and developing economically has prompted many researchers to investigate the kind of energy required to preserve the environment. In this regard, this study employs the mediation model to assess renewable energy's direct and indirect effects on carbon emissions through globalization. The data for the study is from 1990 to 2020. The study's findings showed that while renewable energy has no appreciable impact on trade openness, it directly and negatively affects carbon emissions. However, foreign direct investment has a direct and significant positive effect on carbon emissions, while trade openness has no significant effect. The indirect result revealed that renewable energy through foreign direct investment has a negative effect on carbon emissions; however, renewable energy through trade openness has a positive effect on carbon emissions. Policymakers are encouraged to restrict the trade sector to reduce the trading of high-emission technologies.

Medical school origins of award-winning physicians; analysis of a complete national dataset

BACKGROUND

Educators and medical students share the same objective of achieving success in medical practice. Both groups consider doctors' successes to include optimum patient care outcomes and positive career progressions. Accordingly, identifying common educational features of such high-achieving doctors facilitates the generation of excellence amongst future medical trainees. In this study we use data from the British clinical merit award schemes as outcome measures in order to identify medical school origins of doctors who have achieved national or international prominence.

METHODS

Britain has Clinical Excellence Awards/Distinction Awards schemes that financially reward all National Health Service doctors in England, Scotland and Wales who are classified as high achievers. We used these outcome measures in a quantitative observational analysis of the 2019-20 dataset of all 901 national award-winning doctors. Where appropriate, Pearson's Chi-Square test was applied.

RESULTS

The top five medical schools (London university medical schools, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge) were responsible for 51.2% of the physician merit award-winners in the 2019-20 round, despite the dataset representing 85 medical schools. 91.4% of the physician merit award-winners were from European medical schools. The lowest national award-winners (tier 3) originated from 61 medical schools representing six continents. International medical graduates comprised 11.4% of all award-winners.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of physicians who were national merit award-winners originated from only five, apparently overrepresented, UK university medical schools. In contrast, there was a greater diversity in medical school origin among the lower grade national merit awards; the largest number of international medical graduates were in these tier 3 awards (13.3%). As well as ranking educationally successful university medical schools, this study assists UK and international students, by providing a roadmap for rational decision making when selecting physician and non-physician medical education pathways that are more likely to fulfil their career ambitions.

Globalization, platform work, and wellbeing-a comparative study of Uber drivers in three cities: London, Helsinki, and St Petersburg

BACKGROUND

Globalization of platform work has become a challenge for wider social and employment relations and wellbeing of workers, yet on-location work remains governed also by local regulatory context. Understanding common challenges across countries and potential for regulatory measures is essential to enhance health and wellbeing of those who work in platform economy. Our comparative study on platform work analyzed concerns of Uber drivers in three cities with a different regulatory and policy context.

METHODS

Drawing from current understanding on employment and precarity as social determinants of health we gathered comparative documentary and contextual data on regulatory environment complemented with key informant views of regulators, trade unions, and platform corporations (N = 26) to provide insight on the wider regulatory and policy environment. We used thematic semi-structured interviews to examine concerns of Uber drivers in Helsinki, St Petersburg, and London (N = 60). We then analysed the driver interviews to identify common and divergent concerns across countries.

RESULTS

Our results indicate that worsening of working conditions is not inevitable and for drivers the terms of employment is a social determinant of health. Drivers compensated declining pay with longer working hours. Algorithmic surveillance as such was of less concern to drivers than power differences in relation to terms of work.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results show scope for regulation of platform work especially for on-location work concerning pay, working hours, social security obligations, and practices of dismissal.

Medical school origins of award-winning psychiatrists; analysis of a complete national dataset

BACKGROUND

Britain attracts doctors from all over the world to work in the National Health Service. Elucidating the educational backgrounds of award-winning doctors working in the country is potentially an important medical education issue and a merit award audit. Using the British clinical merit award schemes as outcome measures, we identify medical school origins of award-winning doctors who have been identified as having achieved national or international prominence.

METHODS

The Clinical Excellence Awards/Distinction Awards schemes select doctors in Britain who are classified as high achievers, with categories for national prominence and above. We used this outcome measure in a quantitative observational analysis of the 2019-20 dataset of all 901 award-winning doctors. Pearson's Chi-Square test was used where appropriate.

RESULTS

Five university medical schools (London university medical schools, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Cambridge) accounted for 59.1% of the psychiatrist award-winning doctors in the 2019 round, despite the dataset representing 85 medical schools. 84.1% of the psychiatrist award-winners were from European medical schools, compared to 92.1% of the non-psychiatrist award-winners. International medical graduates accounted for 22.7% of the award-winning psychiatrists. Psychiatrists with the lower grade national awards came from a more diverse educational background of 17 medical schools. IMGs represented diverse medical schools from five continents and were most represented in the lowest grade of national merit awards at 24.2%.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of the award-winning psychiatrists originated from only five medical schools. A greater diversity of medical school origin existed for the lowest grade national psychiatrist award-winners. International medical graduates contributed substantially to these award-winners; psychiatrist award-winners were more likely to be international medical graduates (22.7%) than non-psychiatrist award-winners (10.8%). This study not only indicates educational centres associated with the production of award-winners but also provides students with a roadmap for rational decision making when selecting medical schools.

Empowering renewable energy consumption through public-private investment, urbanization, and globalization: Evidence from CS-ARDL and NARDL

This study examines the interrelationship among public-private investment, urbanization, globalization, and renewable energy consumption in the BIMSTEC nations for 1995-2021. The study implemented linear and nonlinear frameworks to document the magnitudes of explanatory variables on REC. Referring to the study findings with CSD, CIPS, CADF, and PCT disclosed the presence of cross-sectional dependency; variables are integrated after the first difference, i.e., I (1), and long-run association. According to symmetric and asymmetric coefficients, Public-private partnerships and globalization have emerged as significant catalysts for developing renewable energy sources. At the same time, urbanization is exposed to an adverse tie with REC, especially in the long-run. Based on the abovementioned findings, the study presents crucial policy recommendations to facilitate the expeditious transition to renewable energy within the BIMSTEC nations. Policymakers should prioritize the cultivation of robust public-private partnerships, the provision of incentives for investments in renewable energy, and the formulation of comprehensive regulatory frameworks.

Effects of Consumer Dispositional Attitude on Purchase Intention in an Emerging Market

Background

Globalization trends have compelled multinational companies to change their marketing approach from multi-domestic marketing to global marketing. This strategy has had a major impact on the branding of companies. Due to these efforts by international companies, there has been a negative impact on local brands. Strong local brands always maintained the advantage of a high level of awareness among consumers, due to consumers' close relationship with these brands, hence this resulted in strong and positive marketing investments in the home market. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the attitudinal dispositions towards global and local brands and purchase intention. The objective is to understand the underlying motives of consumers' purchase decision.

Methods

Consumer disposition and attitude towards brands are evaluated based on respondents' purchase intention of a select brand. Data are collected from Bangalore and Chennai using the convenience sampling method. Evaluation of the measurement model was performed using the Smart PLS 4 software.

Results

Findings suggest that consumer attitudinal disposition has a significant impact on consumers' purchase intention. Attitude formation is the first step in consumers' behavioural decision and making a purchase decision. Marketing managers/practitioners need to focus on forming this attitude in consumers' minds, so that this attitude formation leads to a purchase decision.

Conclusions

This research provides theoretical and managerial implications for marketers, especially those operating in an emerging market like India as this study has examined the role of consumer disposition on attitude formation and purchase intention. From a theoretical perspective, this study developed and tested a conceptual model describing the relationship between attitudinal disposition and purchase intention.

The role of environmental technologies, institutional quality, and globalization on environmental sustainability in European Union countries: new evidence from advanced panel data estimations

Factors such as investments in environmentally clean technologies, globalization, and institutional quality significantly increase environmental quality. The study aims to provide light on how environmental technologies, institutional quality, globalization, and economic growth affect a sustainable environment. In addition, this study evaluates the European Union's carbon zero target by 2050 and the results of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, which was put on the agenda at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-26). For this purpose, ten countries (Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland) that invest in the highest environmental technology in the European Union were selected in the study. The data range of the study is from 1990 to 2019. Also, the validity of the load capacity curve (LCC) hypothesis was investigated in these countries. The CCEMG and DCCE estimators were used to estimate long-run coefficients. When the panel was assessed as a whole, the LCC hypothesis was determined to be valid by both estimators. According to country-based results, it has been determined that the LCC hypothesis is valid only for Spain. The study also includes the following observations. (i) Environmental technologies increase LCF for Austria, improving environmental quality. (ii) Globalization reduces LCF for Austria. (iii) Institutional quality variable decreases LCF for Austria and increases LCF for Germany and France. These findings suggest that to attain a sustainable environment in the future, policymakers should raise research and development budgets for environmental technology, enhance the standards of institutions, and take globalization into account.

The era of global warming mitigation: The role of financial inclusion, globalization and governance institutions

Several efforts have been undertaken by environmentalists, nations, and various international organizations towards the fight against carbon emissions. The continuity of the environment has been one of the main concerns of the international system and state and non-state actors and government institutions are encouraged to play their roles effectively. Therefore, the study assesses the effect of financial inclusion, globalization, and government institutions on carbon emissions. The study used data from 1996 to 2021 and employed FMOLS model for the analysis. The findings of the study confirm the pollution halo hypothesis implying globalization promotes environmental sustainability. However, financial inclusion and government institutions have no significant effect on global warming mitigation. Nevertheless, institutional governance encourages global warming while political stability promotes the fight against global warming, the effect of economic governance is not significant. Renewable energy and economic growth exhibit positive and negative effect, respectively, on environmental sustainability. The findings suggest the encouragement of the rule of law, political stability, and an effective low carbon trading system as part of the policy implications.

HIV/AIDS, SARS, and COVID-19: the trajectory of China's pandemic responses and its changing politics in a contested world

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the contested politics of global health governance, though we still don't know enough about the dynamics of domestic pandemic responses, or about the relationship between the politics of those responses and the politics of global health governance, both of which have changed significantly in recent decades. Focusing on three cases (HIV/AIDS, SARS, and COVID-19) of cross-border infectious diseases, this article explores the trajectory of China's pandemic responses in the context of globalization. Attending to changing politics at domestic, international, and global levels, I argue that those responses have been a complex combination of China's domestic politics (e.g., priorities, institutions, leadership, and timing), its international relations (especially with the US), and its engagements with global health governance. It is concluded that the increasing divergence of pandemic responses in a time of ubiquitous global health crisis demands urgent attention to the connections (including contestations) between domestic pandemic responses and the evolvement of global health governance from a broader perspective that considers changes in geopolitics.

The effects of debt dependence on economic growth in less-developed countries, 1990-2019

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic increase in debt servicing for developing countries. Drawing on the theoretical insights of dependency theory, I investigate the relationship between debt dependence and economic growth in less-developed countries. Results from two-way fixed effects estimation of an expansive country-level dataset on 103 less-developed countries from 1990 to 2019 indicate that debt dependence exerts a harmful effect on economic growth, net of relevant statistical controls. I conclude by discussing the theoretical and policy implications of the empirical analyses.

Dynamic assessment of the impact of agricultural land use change and globalization on environmental quality in the tropical African Rainforest: evidence from the Congo Basin

The rising human demand for food has increased the pursuit for more agricultural land to feed the ever-growing human population. Although agriculture constitutes the cornerstone of most economies and serves as a vital source of foreign earnings to others, experts suggest that it emits a substantial amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, thereby enhancing global warming. Furthermore, with the growing pace of globalization, less developed countries are witnessing economic growth with detrimental impacts on the environment. Inspired by the need to protect tropical rainforests and basins, the current research aims to assess the dynamic impacts of agricultural land use change (LALUC) and globalization (LGLO) on environmental quality (LCO2) in the Congo Basin while controlling for economic growth (LGDP), biomass energy consumption (LBIO), and urbanization (LURBN). Based on panel data from 1980 to 2018, this study utilized second-generation econometric methods including the cross-sectional Im, Peseran Shin (CIPS), Westerlund bootstrapped co-integration test, autoregressive distributive lag/pooled mean group (ARDL/PMG), and the Dumitrescu Hurlin (D-H) panel causality estimates. The outcome reveals a long-run equilibrium co-integrating association among the estimated variables, and LALUC, LBIO, and LURBN were found to reduce LCO2, while LGDP and LGLO increase LCO2. These findings imply the inverted U-shaped relationship between LALUC, LBIO, and LURBN is beneficial for environmental quality in the Congo Basin. Based on the findings, environmental quality and economic growth can be achieved instantaneously in this region by engaging in large-scale production of biomass energy. Therefore, policymakers and governments should promote renewable energy use and convey foreign funds towards its enhancement, while investments in agriculture should prioritize environmentally benign practices such as agroforestry.

Emerging trends of carbon emissions and foreign direct investment: accounting for ecological footprints, renewable energy, globalization, and technological innovations in BRICS

This paper investigates the intricate interplay between carbon emissions and foreign direct investment within the context of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) for the period spanning 2000 to 2022. In our comprehensive analysis, we incorporate ecological footprint, renewable energy, globalization, and technological innovations as exogenous variables. Employing a system of simultaneous equations across the BRICS panel, we aim to fully elucidate the proposed relationships. Our empirical findings underscore the following key insights: foreign direct investment, technological innovations, and the adoption of renewable energy sources significantly contribute to the mitigation of carbon emissions in these selected nations. However, it is essential to note that ecological footprints exhibit a positive association with carbon emissions, raising concerns on two fronts: escalating environmental degradation and increased land pressure, both of which contribute to rising ecological footprints in BRICS countries. Additionally, our analysis reveals that foreign direct investment is influenced by its capacity to reduce carbon emissions and bolster renewable energy adoption, while globalization amplifies investment trends within the BRICS nations. To address the environmental repercussions of mining activities, it is imperative to implement stringent control and regulation measures, given their potential adverse impacts, including soil pollution, acid mine drainage, erosion, biodiversity loss, excessive water resource consumption, and wastewater disposal challenges. Nevertheless, proactive steps such as recycling mining waste, adopting environmentally friendly mining equipment, combatting illegal mining, and enhancing overall mining sustainability offer promising avenues to mitigate the environmental footprint of mining operations.

Unraveling the interplay between globalization, financial development, economic growth, greenhouse gases, human capital, and renewable energy uptake in Indonesia: multiple econometric approaches

Addressing global environmental concerns requires the widespread adoption of renewable energy sources. More research is needed to examine the relationships between renewable energy (RE) and globalization, economic growth, and environmental quality in Indonesia. Therefore, we examined how renewable energy usage in Indonesia has changed due to the dynamic effects of globalization, financial development, and environmental quality. Time-series data were analyzed using an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to test for cointegration and long-run/short-run dynamics between 1990 and 2020. In addition to ARDL bounds testing, we used the Johansen and Engle-Granger cointegration methods for confirmation. Globalization, financial progress, human capital, greenhouse gas emissions, and economic expansion have favorable long- and short-term effects on renewable energy sources. Globalization has enabled Indonesia to expand trade, FDI, and financial investment. It has also increased energy-efficient technology use due to environmental policies. The computed results are robust enough to substitute estimators, such as dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), fully modified least squares (FMOLS), and canonical cointegrating regression (CCR). We recommend the implementation of policies that support financial and environmental development by utilizing renewable resources and increasing investments in renewable energy ventures.

Globalization through global citizenship and right to migrate

All human beings of the world should be equal in status and stature. However, in reality human beings are divided by citizen status of nation states that are members of the United Nations. The human development index differs from one nation to another. Therefore quality of life, health, and life expectancy varies across countries and continents. Much depends on the governments representing human groups living in defined territorial boundaries. Governments defend sovereign territories and compete with other governments for business monopolies, territories and natural resources. From empires to colonisation, the world is passing through the phase of globalisation. There is an uneven divide of natural planetary resources and geographical territories. Also there is a continuous flow of financial resources from the poor nation states and in favour of the rich ones. Globalisation can no longer remain a refined chaotic balance of exploitation of one human territory by another. Travel and migration from one territory to another are highly regulated. The true idea of Globalization will only be realised when it is not linked to race, the level of skills, political affiliation or economic dividends and is able to add to the upward movement of the social structure of the poor. In a globalised world there should be equitable and fast paced distribution of benefits of modern development. Otherwise the global citizens of the world should look for alternatives.

Does artificial intelligence (AI) reduce ecological footprint? The role of globalization

This article explores the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on global ecological footprints, which has important implications for global sustainability in the digital age. Using the comprehensive evaluation index of AI constructed by the entropy method and the dataset at the global national level, we find that from 2010 to 2019, the overall level of global AI shows an upward trend, in which the growth rate of AI in developed countries is more pronounced and exhibits a stable growth trend, while the growth rate of AI in developing countries displays a trend of instability. The research results show that AI has a significant inhibitory effect on ecological footprints. This conclusion holds even after endogeneity and robustness tests. In addition, under the effect of globalization, the impact of AI on ecological footprints shows nonlinear characteristics. As globalization deepens, the marginal effect of AI in reducing the ecological footprint shows an increasing trend. These findings emphasize the important role of AI in environmental governance and provide a new and comprehensive perspective for policymakers. Therefore, the government should continue to support the research and application of AI, promote the cross-industry integration of AI, and play a positive role in the process of globalization to promote global sustainable development.

Appraising the role of the digital economy in global decarbonization: A spatial non-linear perspective on globalization

In the context of globalization, the role of the digital economy in carbon emissions may generate spatial spill over effects. This study comprehensively applies a spatial model to understand the nexus between the digital economy and carbon emissions in 67 economies from 2010 to 2019. Specifically, this study contributes by introducing a spatial panel threshold model, which helps to present the new evidence regarding decarbonization process. Empirical findings exemplify that the digital economy remarkably reduces local carbon emissions, with the positive spatial spill over effects being salient. The spatial moderating effect model uncover that globalization positively affects the nexus between the digital economy and carbon emissions. Interestingly, the spatial panel threshold model designates that the digital economy's reduction effect on local carbon emissions will be tightened, whereas the positive spatial spill over effects turn negative only when globalization surpasses a threshold. Our model has the potential to explain some results that traditional models cannot reach.

The determinants of ecological footprint in the UK: The role of transportation activities, renewable energy, trade openness, and globalization

The objective of this study is to explore the interaction between transportation energy consumption, GDP, renewable energy, trade, globalization and ecological footprint in the United Kingdom over the period 1990-2020. To achieve this aim, the study uses the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach and Fourier Toda-Yamamoto causality test. The research findings demonstrate that an increase in transportation energy consumption, renewable energy, and globalization is associated with a reduction in environmental pollution. On the contrary, GDP and trade contribute to worsening the environment. Moreover, there exists a unidirectional causal relationship from transportation energy consumption, GDP, renewable energy, trade, and globalization towards the ecological footprint. The findings of the study recommend that the policymakers should implement strategies and provide incentives to increase the deployment of renewables in the transportation sector, specifically focusing on electric vehicles (EVs) and the necessary charging infrastructure. Overall, the UK government should prioritize sustainable environmental development when planning its economic development strategies.

Environmental cost of natural resources, globalization, and economic policy uncertainty in the G-7 bloc: do human capital and renewable energy matter?

The panel of G-7 economies is considered one of the most prosperous economies, endowed with abundant natural and renewable energy resources. Due to their richness in these resources, most economic development and activities, including environmental and economic aspects, depend on and are determined by energy consumption and natural resource rents. However, the increasing dependence of G-7 economies on energy consumption and natural resources raises questions about their long-term growth and ecological policies towards achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). Therefore, the main objective of this study is to examine the influence of natural resources, renewable energy, economic policy uncertainty, human capital, and globalization on the ecological footprint in the panel of G-7 economies from 1990 to 2020. After confirming the cross-sectional dependence issue, this study applied second-generation panel data approaches to estimate robust and reliable outcomes. The estimated evidence from this study discovered that natural resources, globalization processes, and economic policy uncertainty significantly increase the level of ecological footprint in the region. In contrast, renewable energy and human capital provide feasible solutions for ecological improvement in the study area. Likewise, the interactive role of renewable energy with economic policy uncertainty significantly protects the environmental quality in the study area. Based on the estimated findings, this study recommends various achievable policy options for policymakers and the governments of these economies to ensure environmental sustainability.

A country-level analysis using targeted maximum likelihood estimation

BACKGROUND

The "opioid crisis" has been responsible for hundreds of thousands deaths in the US, and is at risk of dissemination worldwide. Within-country studies have demonstrated that the rise of opioid use disorders (OUD) is linked to increased access to opioid prescriptions and to so-called "diseases of despair". Both have been related to the emergence of globalization policies since the 1980s. First, globalized countries have seen a reorganization of healthcare practices towards quick and easy answers to complex needs, including increased opioid prescriptions. Second, despair has gained those suffering from the mutations of socio-economic systems and working conditions that have accompanied globalization policies (e.g. delocalization, deindustrialization, and the decline of social services). Here, using data with high quality ratings from the Global Burden of Disease database, we evaluated the country-based association between four levels of globalization and the burden of OUD 2019.

RESULTS

The sample included 87 countries. Taking into account potential country-level confounders, we found that countries with the highest level of globalization were associated with a 31% increase in the burden of OUD 2019 compared to those with the lowest level of globalization (mean log difference: 0.31; 95%CI, 0.04-0.57; p = 0.02). Additional analyses showed a significant effect for low back pain (mean log difference: 0.07; 95%CI, 0.02-0.12; p = 0.007). In contrast, despite sharing some of the risk factors of OUD, other mental and substance use disorders did not show any significant relationship with globalization. Finally, socio-cultural de jure globalization, which compiles indicators related to gender equality, human capital and civil rights, was specifically associated with the burden of OUD (mean log difference: 0.49; 95%CI: 0.23,0.75; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that OUD may have inherent underpinnings linked to globalization, and more particularly socio-cultural aspects of globalization. Key factors may be increased rights to access prescriptions, as well as increased feelings of despair related to the erosion of local cultures and widening educational gaps.

Industrialization, globalization, ICT, and environmental degradation in Malaysia: A frequency domain analysis

This paper examines the causal relationship between industrialization, globalization, information communication technology (ICT) and environmental degradation in Malaysia during 1970-2019. It uses two indicators of environmental degradation (carbon emissions and ecological footprint), three dimensions of globalization (political, social, and economic) and three indicators of ICT (users of internet, mobile cellular, and fixed telephone subscriptions). It utilizes Granger causality technique in frequency domain which differentiates between permanent and temporary causality, Vector Error Correction approach as well as Variance Decompositions. The bound test shows that the variables have cointegration relationship. It reveals joint long-run and short-run causality from industrialization, globalization, and ICT to carbon emissions, albeit the causality to ecological footprint is tenuous. It indicates that industrialization, globalization, and ICT significantly predict carbon emissions at high frequency than at low frequency. A substantial percentage of the forecast error variance in environmental degradation are explained by industrialization, globalization, and ICT. The robustness of the empirical outcomes is confirmed by the alternative proxies of the variables. Our study implies that industrialization, globalization, and ICT are determinants of environmental degradation. Therefore, policies to mitigate environmental problem should prioritize these variables to attain green economy.

Energizing sustainable development: renewable energy's impact on South Asian environmental quality

This study examines the impact of CO2 emissions, globalization, economic growth, and renewable and non-renewable energies consumption in South Asian countries between 1985 and 2019. We employ a fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method to achieve the purpose of this study. The empirical results of this study indicate that globalization positively impacts CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the study indicates that the consumption of non-renewable energy contributes to environmental pollution. Moreover, the findings support the existence of the EKC hypothesis in these countries. As economic growth increases, environmental degradation will also increase, and vice versa. Environmental degradation, however, decreases as economic growth increases after a certain threshold. For countries to cope with the problem of environmental degradation, the pragmatic results recommend that they promote and subsidize all green energy sources.

Impact of globalization on CO2 emission in the agricultural sector: case study of selected developed countries

The development of new technologies and the necessity to pay attention to sustainable development, on the one hand, and increasing the cultivated area to gain more product, on the other hand, have made the protection and improvement of the environment one of the most important concerns of policymakers. Accordingly, in recent years, extensive theoretical and empirical research has been conducted to find ways to improve the quality of the environment and its effective factors. In this regard, this paper assessed the impact of value-added agriculture and globalization on CO2 emission in the agricultural sector in selected developing countries, including Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, and Australia. For this purpose, panel data over 1995-2017 and the random effects method were used. The results indicated that value-added agriculture and globalization had an inverse relationship with CO2 emission in the agricultural sector of developed countries. According to the results, it is recommended to reform infrastructures and optimize resource utilization by entering and promoting cleaner technologies, and furthermore attracting foreign investments, which are a part of criteria forming globalization.

Assessing environmental sustainability in top Middle East travel destinations: insights on the multifaceted roles of air transport amidst other energy indicators

The Middle Eastern region is well-known for its flourishing tourism industry as the aviation sector contributes over US$213 billion to the regional GDP while air transport-related activities account for over 3.3 million jobs. Howbeit, the environmental impacts of this flourishing industry remain questionable. Hence, this study examines the tourism-emissions nexus in the Middle Eastern region from the perspective of air transportation while underscoring the multifaceted roles of major indicators like globalization, income, and energy use in the region. The empirical analysis of data spanning from 1975 to 2018 was conducted with advanced panel data analytical approach using the CS-ARDL technique. The sample selection was guided by available statistics on international tourist arrivals from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO 2020), with a focus on the case of the five leading travel destinations in the region including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Oman, and Qatar. The robustness of the evaluated outputs was checked after which result-based policy suggestions were enunciated for authorities and other regional stakeholders. The analysis indicated that air transportation although boosting tourism has constituted significant detrimental environmental impacts on the reviewed destinations with an estimated long-run elasticity of ∼1.03. Additionally, while the trio of globalization, energy utilization, and income expansion exacerbate environmental degradation, the lowest carbon-triggering magnitude was observed from the regional income expansion. Thus, while the aviation sector facilitates the growing quest to diversify from a primary sector-based economy (mainly resources exploitation) to other prospective service industries like tourism, the study posits the need for authorities to put measures in place to address the environmental side effect of air transportation.

Exploring the Intertwined Nexus between Globalization, Energy Usage, Economic Complexity, and Environmental Quality in Emerging Asian Economies: A Pathway Towards a Greener Future

The study aims to examine the relationship between carbon emissions and ecological footprints with economic complexity, core pollution indicators, urbanization, globalization, and renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in eight emerging Asian economies from 1971 to 2020. A panel data framework that considers cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity was used for analysis. The Pedroni and Johnsen Fisher cointegration showed that carbon emission, ecological footprint, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, economic complexity, globalization, and urbanization confirmed the presence of cointegration. Moreover, fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DLOS) indicated that globalization, non-renewable energy consumption, and economic complexity increase emission and ecological footprint in the long run, whereas renewable energy generated through biomass, solar, and wind decreases environmental degradation. Furthermore, urbanization also negatively affects the environment. From a policy perspective, policymakers in these countries may manage their natural resources efficiently by escalating the share of renewables in total energy production, offering tax holidays, incentives and encouraging companies to install clean energy plant, and providing support to research and development-oriented companies to engage in research activities to reduce the cost of production of renewable energy.

Does globalization mitigate environmental degradation in selected emerging economies? assessment of the role of financial development, economic growth, renewable energy consumption and urbanization

While the acceleration of globalization in newly developing (emerging) economies contributes positively to economic developments on the one hand, it is a research topic that can have an impact on environmental pollution on the other hand. Therefore, this study analyzes the impact of globalization on environmental pollution for 14 emerging economies in the 1991-2018 period by including economic growth, financial development, renewable energy consumption, and urbanization in the ecological footprint model. In addition to the AMG forecaster, Driscoll-Kraay, PCSE, and FGLS estimation techniques are used for long-term forecasting. Causal linkages among variables are analyzed by the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel bootstrap causality test. The findings show that the series are cointegrated, that is, a long-term relationship between the variables. In the long term, globalization and renewable energy consumption reduce environmental pollution, while economic growth and financial development play a role in encouraging environmental pollution. Causality analysis enumerates a causality from economic growth and financial development to environmental pollution, as well as a two-way causality between globalization and environmental pollution and renewable energy consumption and environmental pollution. Empirical findings can offer important implications for policies that will reduce environmental pollution in these countries.

How natural resources depletion, technological innovation, and globalization impact the environmental degradation in East and South Asian regions

Rapid economic expansion has caused resource depletion, globalization issues, and environmental deterioration. Globalization has highlighted East and South Asian mineral richness. This article investigates the effects of technological innovation (TI), natural resources, globalization, and renewable energy consumption (REC) on environmental deterioration in the East and South Asian region from 1990 to 2021. The cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) estimator is used to estimate short- and long-run slope parameters and dependencies across countries. The results demonstrate that many natural resources significantly enhance environmental degradation, while globalization, TI, and REC reduce emission levels in East and South Asian economies and that economic growth significantly degrades ecological quality. This research suggests that governments in the East and South Asian region develop suitable policies that promote the efficient use of natural resources via technological advancements. Furthermore, future policies regarding energy consumption, globalization, and economic development should be aligned with the aims of sustainable environmental development.

In the era of globalization, can renewable energy and eco-innovation be viable for environmental sustainability in BRICS economies?

Although energy is a necessary component of production and hence a contaminant, the environmental effect varies depending on the type of energy used. Renewable sources of energy can provide ecological advantages, particularly when contrasted with fossil fuels, which emit high levels of CO2 emissions. Thus, the research explores the impact of eco-innovation (ECO), green energy (REC), and globalization (GLOB) on the ecological footprint (ECF) in the BRICS nations using the panel nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (PNARDL) technique between 1990 and 2018. The empirical results indicate that there is cointegration in the model. The results from the PNARDL show that a positive shift in renewable energy, eco-innovation, and globalization decreases the ecological footprint, while positive (negative) shifts in non-renewable energy and economic growth intensify the ecological footprint. The paper suggests several policy recommendations based on these results.

Asymmetric effect of educational expenditure, knowledge spillover, and energy consumption on sustainable development: Nuts and Bolts for policy empirics

Climate change is raising widespread anxiety, especially in countries that are more vulnerable to environmental disasters. Energy use leads to an increase in Greenhouse gases, especially carbon emissions, which is responsible for environmental degradation. Identifying cultural and economic factors that impact sustainability courses is critical in this context for dealing with ecologically demanding challenges. Education and knowledge spillover in the form of foreign direct investment has long been seen as an effective method of disseminating knowledge, ideas, and behaviors that aid in environmental protection and improve ecological consciousness. This study investigates how energy consumption (LEC), educational expenditure (EDEXP), and knowledge spillover (KNO) affect sustainable development (SD) in the case of Pakistan. This study employs the Non-linear Autoregressive Distributive Lag Model (NARDL) over a data span of 41 years i.e., from 1980 to 2021. The estimations unveil that shocks in educational expenditure pose different results. EDEXP_POSE increases sustainability (0.807 units) while EDEXP-NEG decreases sustainability (0.931 units) while KPO_POS and KPO_NEG positively (0.200 units and 0.011 units respectively) affect environmental sustainability. On the other hand, LEC_POS negatively (1.685 units) affects sustainability while LEC_NEG positively (0.867 units) affects Sustainable growth. Energy consumption has a negative impact on sustainability; thus, the government should prioritize the production of renewable energy sources and support the spread of knowledge that is good for the environment. The government may think about putting tariffs on businesses who import non-green technology since it has a significant and advantageous impact on the environment.

The role of eco-innovation, renewable energy consumption, economic risks, globalization, and economic growth in achieving sustainable environment in emerging market economies

In the last two decades, environmental degradation has been a topic of concern. The rising level of CO2 emissions (CO2E) has adversely affected life in the E7 countries, which comprise of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey. The increased in CO2E is the cause of rising sea levels in the E7 countries. Visibly, E7 nations which are considered as the largest emitters of CO2 are facing the most severe environmental challenges. This study investigates the impact of eco-innovation, economic growth (EG), renewable energy consumption (REC), economic risk (ERI), and globalization on the CO2E, using the Feasible Generalized Lease Squares (FGLS) and Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) techniques for the period 1995 to 2018. The results indicate an inverted N-shaped relationship between eco-innovation and CO2E. Also, eco-innovation, REC, and economic risk are observed to be significant factors in abating CO2 emissions. On the contrary, globalization and GDP are responsible for rising CO2E in E7 countries. According to empirical estimates, eco-innovation improves the efficiency of carbon emissions, which lowers CO2E. In addition, because they are immune to changes in the price of oil and gas and disruptions brought about by geopolitical events, renewable energy sources can offer countries a more secure energy source than fossil fuels. Alternative energy sources can reasonably cut CO2E while offering a more reliable and secure energy source. Therefore, it is crucial that policies be put in place to cut CO2E by giving priority to environmental innovative policies.

The roles of renewable energy, globalization, population expansion and deliberative democracy on Sustainable Development in South Asia

South Asian region is extremely vulnerable to climate change which hampers its attainment of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study explores how sustainable development of South Asian nations is affected by the clean or renewable energy consumption, globalization, population growth and deliberative democracy. To tackle the effects of shocks within the cross-sectional units as well as to account for endogeneity, this study utilizes Common Correlated Effects Mean Group-Generalized Method of Moments (CCE-GMM) estimation technique proposed by Neal (2015). Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCE-MG) of Pesaran 2006 and Augmented Mean Group (AMG) by Eberhardt and Teal (2010) and Eberhardt and Bond (2009) techniques are also utilized as robustness checks. The empirical results reveal that the consumption of renewable or clean energy can significantly and positively affect sustainable development, implying that deploying clean energy technologies is helpful to achieve SDG agenda in South Asia. Population growth is found to be hampering sustainable development while deliberative democracy ensures this development. The impact of globalization on sustainable development was found to be negative yet insignificant. Bidirectional causal relationship was discovered between sustainable development and renewable energy, between population and sustainable development, between deliberative democracy and sustainable development and between deliberative democracy and globalization. Finally, the study provides policy directions to achieve sustainable development in South Asia via enhanced integration of renewable energy in the region's energy mix.

Economic and non-economic drivers of tourism: bidirectional causality of tourism and environment for South Asian economies

This study explores the relationship between economic growth, tourism, and the environment in South Asian economies. It finds that factors such as GDP, human capital, globalization, and financial risk are interconnected and have long-term associations in these countries. The study employs various methodologies and tests to analyze the data. The author employs novel panel methodologies such as the method of moment of quantile regression analysis, slope heterogeneity, cross-section dependence test, and Westerlund cointegration. Additionally, a causality test along with the latest unit-root test is used. The results reveal important findings. As GDP expands, its impact on international tourism diminishes at higher quantiles, suggesting a decreasing effect. However, GDP still contributes positively to tourism across all quantiles. Human capital has a stronger effect on attracting tourists at lower quantiles, while globalization has varying impacts depending on the level of globalization in a country. Financial risk has a greater negative impact on tourism in larger economies compared to smaller ones. The study also examines the relationship between CO2 emissions and the variables under investigation. It finds that the effect of GDP on emissions decreases at higher quantiles, indicating a smaller contribution. Human capital has a larger effect on reducing emissions at lower quantiles, while the impact of globalization is more significant at higher quantiles. Moreover, an increase in financial risk leads to a decrease in emissions, particularly at lower quantiles. Based on these findings, the study suggests policy recommendations for South Asian economies. These include promoting sustainable tourism practices, investing in human capital development, encouraging responsible globalization, mitigating financial risks, and aligning tourism strategies with sustainable development goals.

Powering environmental sustainability through renewable energy and natural resources: a Dynamic ARDL simulation approach

The objective of this study is to examine the role of renewable energy consumption and natural resource rents along with control variables of globalization and economic growth on the environmental sustainability of Jordanian economy from 1985 to 2019. These variables have been selected based on theory and empirical literature. We apply a Dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag (D-ARDL) technique along with robustness checks of Fully modified OLS (FMOLS), Dynamic OLS (DOLS), and Canonical Cointegrating Regression (CCR) techniques in order to achieve the above goal. The result from the analysis confirms that the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is not valid for the Jordan in either long or short term. Our estimation results also confirm the highly significant and negative impact of renewable energy on CO2 emissions in both the long and short term. However, both natural resource rents and globalization are significant and positive in the long run, implying that these variables are detrimental to the environmental quality. The interaction analysis presents detrimental effect of globalization in terms of renewable energy while it shows beneficial effect of globalization in terms of natural resource for environmental quality. The frequency domain causality result shows causality at different frequencies across the variables. Based on the results, several policy directions are provided in order to achieve environmental sustainability in Jordan.

Re-visiting resource curse hypothesis in China through the lens of human capital and globalization

The resource curse hypothesis has recently become an important research topic in environmental economics. However, there still needs to be consensus in the literature on whether natural resource rents (NRRs) support economic growth. Previous studies on China have mainly analyzed the resource curse hypothesis based on local or regional data. However, this study examines the issue based on national-level data using globalization and human capital as control variables. The dynamic Auto-Regressive Distributive Lag (DARDL) Simulations and the Kernel-based Regularized Least Squares (KRLS) techniques are employed for policy formulation for 1980-2019. The empirical assessments indicate that NRRs escalate economic growth, i.e., China's resource curse hypothesis is invalid. Further, empirical outcomes reveal that human capital and globalization encourage China's economic growth. The KRLS, a machine learning algorithm, also supports the findings of the DARDL approach. Finally, based on the empirical outcomes, several policy recommendations can be developed, such as more investment in the education sector and the use of NRRs for productive sectors of the economy.

A dynamic relationship between renewable energy, agriculture, globalization, and ecological footprint of the five most populous countries in Asia

This study aims to examine the impact of globalization, renewable energy consumption, and agricultural value addition on the ecological footprint of selected five most populous countries in Asia during the period 1975-2020. The Westerlund cointegration test supports long-term cointegration relationships among the considered variables in selected countries. The long-term resilience results of the second-generation cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag approach evidently demonstrate that agricultural value addition and globalization contribute significantly to the long-term ecological footprint of the five most populous countries in Asia. However, renewable energy consumption significantly reduces the ecological footprint. Moreover, the impact of economic growth on ecological footprint is significantly positive, while the square of economic growth had a significantly negative impact on ecological footprint, thus validating the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for specific Asian densely populated countries. The causality test results of Dumitrescu and Hurlin support the feedback hypothesis by showing a two-way causal relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. There is also a two-way causal relationship between agricultural value added and ecological footprint. Strategically, specific densely populated countries in Asia should encourage clean energy production and consumption in the agricultural sector, and the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies can improve environmental quality and agricultural production.

Down the brain drain: a rapid review exploring physician emigration from West Africa

BACKGROUND

The emigration of physicians from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to high-income countries (HICs), colloquially referred to as the "brain drain", has been a topic of discussion in global health spheres for years. With the call to decolonize global health in mind, and considering that West Africa, as a region, is a main source of physicians emigrating to HICs, this rapid review aims to synthesize the reasons for, and implications of, the brain drain, as well as recommendations to mitigate physician emigration from West African countries to HICs.

METHODS

A literature search was conducted on PubMed, EMBASE and The Cochrane Library. Main inclusion criteria were the inclusion of West African trained physicians' perspectives, the reasons and implications of physician emigration, and recommendations for management. Data on the study design, reasons for the brain drain, implications of brain drain, and proposed solutions to manage physician emigration were extracted using a structured template. The Hawker Tool was used as a risk of bias assessment tool to evaluate the included articles.

RESULTS

A total of 17 articles were included in the final review. Reasons for physician emigration include poor working conditions and remuneration, limited career opportunities, low standards of living, and sociopolitical unrest. Implications of physician emigration include exacerbation of low physician to population ratios, and weakened healthcare systems. Recommendations include development of international policies that limit HICs' recruitment from LMICs, avenues for HICs to compensate LMICs, collaborations investing in mutual medical education, and incorporation of virtual or short-term consultation services for physicians working in HICs to provide care for patients in LMICs.

CONCLUSIONS

The medical brain drain is a global health equity issue requiring the collaboration of LMICs and HICs in implementing possible solutions. Future studies should examine policies and innovative methods to involve both HICs and LMICs to manage the brain drain.

The knowledge map of gender equality in cross-cultural communication: A bibliometric approach

It is urgent to solve the gender issues in global cross-cultural communication. Countries worldwide should responsible for achieving gender equality (SDG5). Hence, the study aims to portray the knowledge map of the gender issue in intercultural communication to explore the research status and future potential. The study used CiteSpace to conduct a bibliometric method within 2728 English articles on cross-cultural communication and gender equality topics from the Web of Science (WoS). After cluster analysis and time series analysis, this study emphasis the continued attention and increasing trend of publications and elaborates on the critical authors, institutions, and countries of research on this issue. The results introduced Putnick as the dominant author contributed to the topic. The University of Oxford ranked the top1 in the institution cooperation relationship. Europe countries and the United States have made major contributions and influenced Asian and African countries, such as Burkina Faso, North Macedonia, and Kosovo. Gender issues in Asia and Africa are getting much attention. The keyword clusters formed by the authors' cooperation include gender equality, life satisfaction, network analysis, and alcohol use. In addition, childbirth technology, patient safety competition, life satisfaction, capital safety, and sex difference are the key word clustering results of institutional cooperation. At the level of national cooperation, internet addition, risk sexual behavior, covid-19 pandemic and suicidal idea have become the main keywords The results of keyword cluster analysis show that gender role attribute, psychological properties, dating policy, professional fulfillment, and entrepreneurial intention have become the main topics in the current research. The research frontier analysis reflects the importance of gender, women and health. The research on self-efficacy, diversity, image, life satisfaction and choice has become the trend of cross-cultural communication and gender issues. Furthermore, abundant achievement emerged in the subjects of Psychology, Education, Sociology, and Business economics. Geography, Language and Literature, Medicine, and Health industries also have been highly influential in recent years. Therefore, the conclusion suggests the studies of gender issues can be further deepened into more authors, areas, subject and other multiple cooperation sectors.

It's time to take a sustainable approach to health care in the face of the challenges of the 21st century

Health challenges in the 21st century have become increasingly complex and global. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the many problems faced by health care systems around the world and sadly, exposed various flaws. With ageing populations, particularly in Canada, as well as unavoidable factors such as globalization and accelerating climate change, it is becoming imperative to implement a new health care approach based on intersectorality and interdisciplinarity. Furthermore, links must be forged between all the stakeholders, i.e. the researchers, the health system and its specialists, the communities and the individuals themselves. It is in this perspective, where everyone concerned must be equally involved in attaining a better quality of life, that the concepts of One Health and sustainable health must be deployed.

Evolution of global food trade network and its effects on population nutritional status

Changes in food systems during the last decades fostered the establishment of global food networks based on exchanges between countries with different income levels. Recent studies explored configuration and factors associated with trade networks of specific food items during limited periods; however, there is lack of evidence on evolution of trade networks of foods for human consumption and its potential effects on population nutritional status. We present the evolution of the global trade network of foods for human consumption from 1986 to 2020, according to country income level, and we explore potential effects of country network centrality and globalization processes on the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Results show intensification of international food trade and globalization processes in the period of analysis with implications for population nutritional status worldwide.

Ecological footprint, globalization, and economic growth: evidence from Asia

This study aims to investigate the relationship between environmental rationality and economic activities that accelerate environmental indicators in Asia. In the ecosphere, the environment is a predator of human consumption. The continent Asia holding more than 60% of the world's population is vulnerable to environmental deployment. The purpose of the study is to find the link between economic growth, globalization, biocapacity, energy intensity, and renewable energy to the ecological footprint (EFP) in Asian countries for the period of 1990-2017. For empirics, the econometric techniques applied are panel OLS, fixed effects, random effects, fully modified-OLS, DOLS, and generalized methods of moments techniques. The results prove that by increasing the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption the environmental quality is improved. The Pedroni cointegration test shows a long-term relationship exists between globalization, economic growth, and the environment. The results of all techniques show the similar effectiveness of all used economic indicators in the model that disturbs the environment with different intensities in each test. The results of FM-OLS show that with a 1% increase in economic growth, globalization, biocapacity, and population density the ecological footprint increases by 0.55%, 0.08%, 0.06%, and 0.03%, respectively. However, renewable energy improves the environment by 0.04%. The Granger causality analysis revealed a bidirectional causality between ecological footprint and globalization and between EFP and energy intensity. This study recommends that Asian countries should make sustainable environmental policies to protect the environment from further damage.

CO2 emissions and global value chains indicators:new evidence for 1995-2018

Globalization and the configuration of production processes around Global Value Chains (GVCs) have become key factors for explaining the recent evolution of environmental and economic indicators. Indeed, previous research found evidence on the significant impact of GVCs indicators (participation and position) on CO₂ emissions. Additionally, results obtained in previous literature vary depending on the time period and geographical areas considered. In this context, the main aims of this paper are to analyze the role the GVCs in explaining the evolution of CO₂ emissions, and to identify possible structural breaks. This study uses the Multiregional Input-Output framework to calculate a position indicator and two different measures of participation in GVCs (interpreted either as trade openness or international competitiveness). The analysis useS Inter-Country Input-Output tables (ICIO) as main database, which includes 66 countries and 45 industries and covers the period 1995-2018. It is first concluded that upstream positions in GVCs are associated to lower global emissions. Additionally, the effect of participation depends on the measure used: trade openness is linked to lower emissions, while a higher competitiveness in international trade leads to higher emissions. Finally, two structural breaks are identified in 2002 and 2008, revealing that position is significant in the two first subperiods, while participation becomes significant from 2002 onwards. Thus, policies to mitigate CO₂ emissions might to be different before and after 2008: currently, reductions in emissions can be achieved by increasing value-added embodied in trade while decreasing the volume of transactions.

Greenhouse gas emissions from extractive industries in a globalized era

The extractive industry consumes vast amounts of energy and is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, its climatic impacts have not yet been fully accounted for. In this study, we estimated the GHG emissions from extractive activities globally with a focus on China, and assessed the main emission drivers. In addition, we predicted the Chinese extractive industry emissions in the context of global mineral demand and cycling. As of 2020, GHG emissions from the global extractive industry had reached 7.7 billion tons of CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e), accounting for approximately 15.0% of the global anthropogenic GHG emissions (excluding GHG emissions from land use, land-use change, and forestry activities (LULUCF), with China being the largest emitter, accounting for 3.5% of global emissions. Extractive industry GHG emissions are projected to peak by 2030 or even earlier to achieve low-carbon peak targets. The most critical pathway for reducing GHG emissions in the extractive industry is to control emissions from coal mining. Therefore, reducing methane emissions from mining and washing coal (MWC) should be prioritized.

Medical school origins of award-winning surgeons; analysis of a complete national dataset

BACKGROUND

Britain attracts doctors from all over the world to work in the National Health Service. Elucidating the educational backgrounds of award-winning doctors working in the country is potentially an important medical education issue and merit award audit. Using the British clinical merit award schemes as outcome measures, we identify medical school origins of award-winning doctors who have been identified as having achieved national or international prominence.

METHODS

The Clinical Excellence Awards/Distinction Awards schemes select doctors in Britain who are classified as high achievers, with categories for national prominence and above. We used this outcome measure in a quantitative observational analysis of the 2019 dataset of all 901 award-winning doctors. Pearson's Chi-Square test was used where appropriate.

RESULTS

Seven medical schools (London university medical schools, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester) accounted for 52.7% of the surgical award-winning doctors in the 2019 round, despite the dataset representing 85 medical schools. Surgeons with the lower grade national awards came from a more diverse educational background of 43 medical schools. International medical graduates accounted for 16.1% of the award-winning surgeons and 9.8% of the award-winning non-surgeons. 87.1% of the surgical award-winners were from European medical schools, whereas 93.2% of the non-surgical award-winners were from European medical schools.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of the award-winning surgeons originated from only seven, overrepresented, medical schools. A greater diversity of medical school origin existed for the lowest grade national merit awards. These comprised 43 medical schools and indicated greater globalization effects in this category. International medical graduates contributed substantially to these award holders; surgical award-winners were more likely to be international medical graduates (16.1%) than non-surgical award-winners (9.8%). This study not only indicates educational centres associated with the production of award-winners but also provides students with a roadmap for rational decision making when selecting medical schools.

Examining the nonlinear impact of human capital on environmental degradation in N-11 countries: an application of the PSTR approach

The emergence of globalization and human capital has played a crucial role in the economic integration of countries, leading to the growth of the economies and a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. This study highlights the importance of investing in human capital development to control ecological degradation and promote sustainable economic growth. This paper employs the PSTR method to investigate the threshold impact of GDP, globalization, information communication technology, and energy consumption on CO₂ emissions. The study examines two regimes, with a single threshold to analyze the transition of human capital on these variables. The results reveal that human capital developments play a central role in controlling ecological degradation due to reduced CO₂ emissions. Based on the empirical findings, this research study offers corresponding policy suggestions.

Technological innovations, renewable energy, globalization, financial development, and carbon emissions: role of inward remittances for top ten remittances receiving countries

Asides from renewable energy consumption, technological innovation and remittances are mostly ignored as critical tools and resources that can be adopted to ameliorate environmental worries, even when remittances have more considerable resource inflow than official development aids. Based on this information, the current research investigates the implications of technological innovation, remittances, globalization, financial development, and renewable energy on CO₂ emissions in top remittances-receiving countries from 1990 to 2021. To obtain reliable estimates, we use a battery of advanced econometric techniques and method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) method. The AMG results suggest that innovation, remittances, renewable energy, and financial development alleviate CO₂ emanations, whereas globalization and economic growth worsen environmental sustainability by increasing CO₂ emissions. Besides, the MMQR results confirm that renewable energy, innovation, and remittances decrease CO₂ emissions across all quantiles. A bidirectional causality exists amid financial development and CO₂ emanations, and across remittances and CO₂ emissions. However, one-way causality flows from economic growth, renewable energy and innovation to CO₂. This study suggests some essential measures for ecological sustainability in light of the findings.

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.

The biomedical securitization of global health

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 outbreak has shifted the course in the global health debate further towards health security and biomedical issues. Even though global health had already played a growing role in the international policy agenda, the pandemic strongly reinforced the interest of the media, the general public and the community in cross-border infectious diseases. This led to a strengthening of the already dominant biomedical understanding of global health and the securitization of health in foreign policy.

METHODS

This paper critically provides a narrative, iterative review of the health security literature available to date, with a special focus on the development of the currently prevailing concept of health security and the dual trend towards the securitization and biomedicalization of global health.

FINDINGS

In a world increasingly determined by power asymmetries, unequal distribution of opportunities and resources, and inadequate governance structures, securitizing health has become a key feature of global governance. Health security is predominantly based on a concept that neglects the global burden of disease determined by non-communicable conditions rather than by infectious diseases. Moreover, it exhibits a trend towards biomedical solutions and neglects root causes of global health crises.

CONCLUSIONS

As important as health security is, the underlying concept driven by biomedical and technocratic reductionism falls short. It widely neglects the social, economic, political, commercial and environmental determination of health. Beyond improved health care and prevention, health-in-all policies are ultimately required for ensuring health security and reducing one of its main challenges, health inequalities within and between countries. Global health security must first and foremost seek to guarantee the universal right to health and therefore emphasise the social, economic, commercial and political determination of health.

Cascading impacts of global metal mining on climate change and human health caused by COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly disrupted global metal mining and associated supply chains. Here we analyse the cascading effects of the metal mining disruption associated with the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, climate change, and human health. We find that the pandemic reduced global metal mining by 10-20% in 2020. This reduction subsequently led to losses in global economic output of approximately 117 billion US dollars, reduced CO₂ emissions by approximately 33 million tonnes (exceeding Hungary's emissions in 2015), and reduced human health damage by 78,192 disability-adjusted life years. In particular, copper and iron mining made the most significant contribution to these effects. China and rest-of-the-world America were the most affected. The cascading effects of the metal mining disruption associated with the pandemic on the economy, climate change, and human health should be simultaneously considered in designing green economic stimulus policies.

Analyzing environmental impact assessment of income inequality, globalization, and growth in sub-Saharan African countries

Despite the growing literature on the inequality-emissions nexus, this area of empirical interest is still inconclusive, particularly in the era of globalization. Hence, this empirical work investigates the effect of income inequality on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions controlling the model for globalization. Considering the unique characteristics of various proxies of inequality, different proxies have been employed to develop an in-depth understanding of the inequality-emission nexus. The Driscoll-Kraay and generalized least square regression approaches are used for 38 sub-Saharan African countries from 1990 to 2016. Empirical results infer that higher income inequality promotes carbon reduction in the sample countries of the study. Further, findings suggest that globalization is beneficial for the environment by contributing to carbon emission mitigation. Several additional variables are used to validate the findings. The study offers some important policy implications in the end.