Testing the income-finance-trade-environment nexus based on the ecological load capacity factor: Frequency-domain causality evidence from Nigeria

To ensure sustainable development, it is crucial that the consumption of ecological resources remains within their productive capacity. This study aims to support policy formulation by examining the nexus between income, financial development, trade openness, and the ecological load capacity factor in Nigeria from 1970 to 2021. The results of the Bayer-Hanck and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds cointegration tests indicate a long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. Parameter estimations were conducted using the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and ARDL model estimators. Both the long-run and short-run results indicate that the ecological load capacity factor has a U-shaped curve with income, thereby validating the load capacity curve hypothesis in Nigeria. The estimated threshold turning points of the curve fall within Nigeria's current range of per capita GDP, which indicates that further increases in income will enhance ecological sustainability. Additionally, the ecological load capacity factor exhibits a negative relationship with financial development and trade openness in the long run. The Breitung-Candelon spectral Granger causality tests reveal that, in the long run, unidirectional causality runs from income and trade openness to the ecological load capacity factor, and bidirectional causality exists in the case of financial development. Furthermore, the tests indicate that none of the causal paths are significant for wavelength periods below four years. Therefore, the study recommends implementing medium-to long-term policy strategies to strengthen the ecological resilience base of the economy.

Occurrence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in wastewater of major cities across China in 2014 and 2016

China produced and consumed a large amount of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). whose persistency and possible toxicity to organisms have raised public health concerns. Analyzing influent wastewater could help to assess the composition and mass load of PFASs discharged into a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) from its catchment. In this study, we analyzed 27 PFASs in wastewater samples collected from 42 WWTPs across China in 2014 and 2016. Results indicated that perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) were the most common PFASs in wastewater. Population normalized mass loads of PFOA and PFOS were higher in Eastern China than in the other three regions, possibly due to their higher usage. Although the concentrations of PFASs in Central and West areas were showed lower than in East area, Wuhan (in Central area) and Lanzhou (in West area) were hotspots of PFASs pollution because of their industry structure. Population density and per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have positive correlations with the concentration of PFBA, PFOA, PFHxA, and ∑PFASs in wastewater. The estimated annual release of PFASs to WWTPs in our study is much lower than the total emission to the environment. Our results suggest that although there was some reduction in the production volume, certain legacy PFASs were still released into wastewater and their composition and concentration vary among WWTPs.

The Determinants of Telehealth Provision: Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries

Health services provided through the telecommunications system aim to improve the population’s health and well-being. This research aims to explore what digital, economic, and health factors are associated with the provision of telehealth services, especially in ageing communities. Applying Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries’ experiences, this research tries to construct a logistic regression model between adopting a telehealth system or not, a binary outcome variable, and a group of potentially explanatory variables. Estimation results showed that there were thresholds for telehealth provision: The demand for telehealth service usually began when the provision of telecommunication accessibility reached 50%, the proportion of elders exceeded 10%, or the proportion of health spending occupied more than 3–5% of the gross domestic product (GDP); the slope of each variable seemed to correspond with an increase in demand for such a provision. A growing number of individuals in OECD countries are now readily served by telehealth systems under the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings could be regarded as a model for other countries for implementing the necessary infrastructure early on when any of these parameters reaches its threshold. Moreover, telehealth applied in developing countries could be elevated for wider populations to access basic health services and for the remote delivery of health care. A rational decision could be made to appropriately use additional resources in telehealth provision. With accessible e-health services, the population’s health could be improved, which in turn would possibly increase productivity and social welfare.

The effect of income inequality on carbon dioxide emissions: A case study of Indonesia

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of income inequality on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in Indonesia from 1975 to 2017 using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique. Per capita GDP, urbanization, and dependency ratio are included as additional variables in the analytical models. The statistical estimation and tests showed that income inequality has a negative effect on CO₂ emissions but the relationship pattern depends on the level of per capita GDP. An inverted U-shaped relationship was also observed between per capita GDP and CO₂ emissions. This indicates the existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in Indonesia. Moreover, both urbanization and the dependency ratio have a negative effect on CO₂ emissions. This study suggests that income equality should be added to the policies formulated to aid economic growth in order to ensure that there is a reduction in CO₂ emissions.

Demographic transition and economic growth: Evidence from China and United States

In the context of todays ageing population, this paper uses the connectedness network model proposed by Diebold and Yilmaz in 2014 to analyse the directionality and degree of interaction between the population ageing index, life expectancy, per capita gross domestic product, and per capita health expenditure from a systematic perspective for China; then, these results from China are compared with the United States. A number of new findings can be identified, as follows: (1) for China and the United States, economic growth may promote the growth of health expenditure and increased life expectancy may cause an increase in the ageing population; (2) China's population age structure has already led to some constraints on economic growth, whereas the United StatesUS's population age structure has had a weak impact on its economic growth; and (3) the ageing population structure for China has a net impact on per capita health expenditure, whereas no such net directional impact was found in the United States. These findings support the idea that policy synergies should be strengthened in the economic, social, and health fields in order to promote both the quality of life of the ageing population and the sustainable development of the economy.

Alcohol-Attributable Fraction in Liver Disease: Does GDP Per Capita Matter?

BACKGROUND

The alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF) quantifies alcohol's disease burden. Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is influenced by alcohol consumption per capita, duration, gender, ethnicity, and other comorbidities. In this study, we investigated the association between AAF/alcohol-related liver mortality and alcohol consumption per capita, while stratifying to per-capita gross domestic product (GDP).

METHODS

Data obtained from the World Health Organization and World Bank for both genders on AAF on liver disease, per-capita alcohol consumption (L/y), and per-capita GDP (USD/y) were used to conduct a cross-sectional study. Countries were classified as "high-income" and "very low income" if their respective per-capita GDP was greater than $30,000 or less than $1,000. Differences in total alcohol consumption per capita and AAF were calculated using a 2-sample t test. Scatterplots were generated to supplement the Pearson correlation coefficients, and F test was conducted to assess for differences in variance of ALD between high-income and very low income countries.

FINDINGS

Twenty-six and 27 countries met the criteria for high-income and very low income countries, respectively. Alcohol consumption per capita was higher in high-income countries. AAF and alcohol consumption per capita for both genders in high-income and very low income countries had a positive correlation. The F test yielded an F value of 1.44 with P = .357. No statistically significant correlation was found among alcohol types and AAF. Significantly higher mortality from ALD was found in very low income countries relative to high-income countries.

DISCUSSION

Previous studies had noted a decreased AAF in low-income countries as compared to higher-income countries. However, the non-statistically significant difference between AAF variances of low-income and high-income countries was found by this study. A possible explanation is that both high-income and low-income populations will consume sufficient amount of alcohol, irrespective of its type, enough to weigh into equivalent AAF.

CONCLUSIONS

No significant difference of AAF variance was found between high-income and very low income countries relating to sex-specific alcohol consumption per capita. Alcohol consumption per capita was greater in high-income countries. Type of preferred alcohol did not correlate with AAF. ALD related mortality was less in high-income countries as a result of better developed healthcare systems. ALD remains a significant burden globally, requiring prevention from socioeconomic, medical, and political realms.