scholarly journals Foreign finance, economic growth and CO2 emissions Nexus in OECD countries

Author(s):  
Faris Alshubiri ◽  
Mohamed Elheddad

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between foreign finance, economic growth and CO2 to investigate if the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) exists as an empirical evidence in 32 selected Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Design/methodology/approach This study used quantitative analysis to test two main hypotheses: H1 is the U-shape relationship between foreign finance and environment, and H2 is the N-shaped association between economic growth and environment. In doing so, this study used panel data techniques. The panel set contained 32 countries over the period from 1990 to 2015, with 27 observations for each country. This study applied a panel OLS estimator via fixed-effects control to address heterogeneity and mitigate endogeneity. Generalized method of moments (GMM) with fixed effects-instrumental variables (FE-IV) and diagnostic tests were also used. Findings The results showed that foreign finance and environmental quality have an inverted U-shaped association. The three proxies’ foreign investment, foreign assets and remittance in the first stages contribute significantly to CO2 emissions, but after the threshold point is reached, these proxies become “environmentally friendly” by their contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. Also, a non-linear relationship denotes that foreign investment in OECD countries enhances the importance, as a proxy of foreign finance has greater environmental quality than foreign assets. Additionally, empirical results show that remittances received is linked to the highest polluted levels until a threshold point is reached, at which point it then helps reduce CO2 emissions. The GMM and FE-IV results provide robust evidence on inverse U-shaped relationship, while the N-shaped relationship explains that economic growth produces more CO2 emissions at the first phase of growth, but the quadratic term confirms this effect is negative after a specific level of GDP is reached. Then, this economic growth makes the environment deteriorate. These results are robust even after controlling for the omitted variable issue. The IV-FE results indicate an N-shaped relationship in the OECD countries. Practical implications Most studies have used different economic indicators as proxies to show the effects of these indicators on the environment, but they are flawed and outdated regarding the large social challenges facing contemporary, socio-financial economic systems. To overcome these disadvantages, the social, institutional and environmental aspects of economic development should also be considered. Hence, this study aims to explain this issue as a relationship with several proxies in regard to environmental, foreign finance and economic aspects. Originality/value This paper uses updated data sets for analyzing the relationship between foreign finance and economic growth as a new proxy for pollution. Also, this study simulates the financial and environmental future to show their effect on investments in different OECD countries. While this study enhances the literature by establishing an innovative control during analysis, this will increase to add value. This study is among the few studies that empirically investigate the non-linear relationship between finance and environmental degradation.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hammed Oluwaseyi Musibau ◽  
Waliu Olawale Shittu ◽  
Fatai Olarewaju Ogunlana

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship among environmental degradation, energy use and economic growth, thus lending a voice to testing the relevance, or otherwise, of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The authors rely on the secondary data obtained from World Bank’s World Development Indicators for Nigeria, between 1981 and 2014. The non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique is used after examining the unit root properties – using the augmented Dickey–Fuller and Phillips–Perron methods – and the long-run relationship – using the ARDL bounds approach to estimate the asymmetries in the effects of economic growth on the environment. Findings The findings of this study uphold the relevance of the EKC hypothesis in Nigeria, as the growth of GDP first reduces the environmental quality but raises it over time. Furthermore, the use of energy is found to deteriorate environmental quality, given that CO2 rises by 0.002% for a unit increase in the consumption of energy in Nigeria. Research limitations/implications A limitation to this research is the data coverage, which is just between 1981 and 2014, based on availability. One other limitation is the use of electric power consumption as a proxy for energy use (because of the difficulty in obtaining accurate data on energy consumption in Nigeria). Future research should, therefore, test different other proxies, to either agree with the findings or justify any deviation therefrom. Also, the use of up-to-date data is recommended as an improvement to this study, while a non-linear technique should be used on studies involving the panel of countries. Originality/value Many studies have examined this relationship by simply taking the square of GDP as a measure of its non-linear effect on the environment. The authors are one of the first who consider the asymmetric effect of economic growth on the environment through the non-linear ARDL technique. With this, the partial sums of positive and negative changes in economic growth on the environment are easily established.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueli Chen ◽  
Wanshu Ma ◽  
Vivian Valdmanis

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the challenges involved in the trade-offs of labor productivity and per capita carbon dioxide (CO2) emission.Design/methodology/approachIn this research, we used a balanced dataset of 36 OECD countries and China between 1990 and 2018. We examined the relationship between labor productivity and per capita CO2 emission for OECD countries and China based on an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Further, the fixed effects model of estimation was employed to examine the impact of variables during the sample period and explore the relationship between predictor and outcome variables within an entity while controlling for all time-invariant differences.FindingsThis study confirmed the existence of the N-shape EKC hypothesis in 36 OECD countries and China. This implies that at the initial development stage, per capita CO2 emission increased with labor productivity; however, after reaching certain threshold, per capita CO2 emission began to fall with rising labor productivity. Then the per capita CO2 emission rises again when labor productivity continually increases.Originality/valueIn this study, we explored the dynamic association between labor productivity and per capita CO2 emissions for 36 OECD countries and China under the EKC framework from 1990 to 2018 by using the labor productivity and per capita CO2 emission as economic and environmental indicators of one country respectively. This study’s contribution showed the following: first, the empirical findings confirmed the N-shape relationship between labor productivity and per capita CO2 emissions for 36 OECD countries and China; second, the findings demonstrated that the association among the underlying variables by testing through the fixed effect model.


Author(s):  
Seher Gulsah Topuz ◽  
Taner Sekmen

In this chapter, the relationship between public debt and economic growth is examined for OECD countries. In order to determine this relationship, the data between 2002 and 2016 is analyzed using panel threshold regression methods. The findings of the study suggest that the relationship between public debt and economic growth is linear. The public debt threshold is estimated at 99.75% for OECD countries but it is statistically insignificant. While the public debt to GDP ratio is both below and above this threshold, the effect of public debt on economic growth is negative and statistically significant. There is no evidence of the existence of a non-linear relationship between public debt and economic growth. These findings are expected to guide policymakers in the implementation of fiscal policies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth A. Tah ◽  
Oscar Martinez

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of specialization of the securitized assets portfolio on banks’ performance and securitization risk. In doing so, the paper addresses two important issues. First, whether the efficient risk–return trade-off for securitized asset portfolios is consistent with the principles of diversification. Second, whether the relationship between bank-level returns and securitized assets portfolio specialization is non-linear in securitization risk. Design/methodology/approach This paper used the fixed-effects panel regression model on US bank holding company data for the period 2001:Q2 to 2014:Q1. Findings The results show that securitized assets portfolio specialization increases returns and also reduces securitization default risk; banks’ return and securitized assets specialization are dependent in a non-linear manner on banks’ securitization risk. Additionally, it was also found that lower bank performance leads to higher securitization risk. Originality/value This paper is of value by demonstrating that diversification (specialization) of securitized assets portfolio would achieve better bank performance in low-risk (high-risk) scenarios.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 483-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Sun ◽  
Jing Wang ◽  
Tao Wang ◽  
Tao Zhang

PurposeGiven the recent rapid economic development, the processes of industrialization and urbanization are accelerating. At the same time, the contradiction between environmental quality and economic development has become increasingly prominent and is likely to restrict the normal pace of China’s economic development and environmental protection. As such, the purpose of this paper is to incorporate the urbanization factor into an analytic framework to discuss the relationship among urbanization, economic development, and environmental pollution.Design/methodology/approachA panel data of 31 Chinese provinces from 2004 to 2015 is selected for this research. A spatial correlation test is first conducted on the environmental pollution status, then the spatial Durbin model is used to carry out spatial econometric testing of the relationship among the above three factors.FindingsInterprovincial environmental pollution in China has significant positive spatial correlation, environmental pollution discharge in most provinces is significantly stable, discharge of environmental pollutants is transitioning from coastal to inland provinces, and urbanization and economic growth can both aggravate environmental pollution, but economic growth can relieve environmental pollution in neighboring provinces.Originality/valueThe relationship between economic growth, urbanization, and environmental quality has always been an important issue for sustainable development. As such, China’s urbanization leads to economic development, while rapid economic growth and environmental pollution are coordinated. This paper focuses on the specific relationship between them. To this end, local governments make concerted efforts to formulate sound environmental regulation policies based on local environmental conditions, where economic development is an effective means of alleviating the contradictory relationship between economic development and environmental protection.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Phuc Canh

Purpose The effectiveness of fiscal policy is an interesting field in literature of macroeconomics. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of fiscal policy on economic growth under contributions from the differences in institutions and external debt levels. Design/methodology/approach The authors use panel data from 2002 to 2014 from 20 emerging markets and use GMM estimators for unbalanced panel data. Findings The results show positive growth effects of fiscal policy across emerging markets in the examined periods. Notably, the improvement in institutions promotes higher crowding-in effects of fiscal policy. In addition, this paper finds interesting evidences that the external debt has non-linear effects on economic growth, whereas the heterogeneous effects of fiscal policy on economic growth as positive effects in low indebted level and negative effect in high indebted level may explain the mechanism of this non-linear relationship. Originality/value This study proposes the non-linear relationship of fiscal growth effects in emerging economies under the dynamic of debt levels.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Srikanth Potharla ◽  
Balachandram Amirishetty

Purpose This study aims to examine the significance of the non-linear relationship of board size and board independence on the financial performance of listed non-financial firms in India. Design/methodology/approach The study draws the sample of the listed non-financial firm in the Indian market from the year 2011–2018 and applied panel least squares regression with and without industry fixed effects on the model with quadratic equation. Quantile regression is also used to test the robustness of the results. The financial performance is measured through one accounting measure (i.e. return on assets [ROA]) and one market-based measure (i.e. Tobin’s Q). The empirical model also controls firm-specific variables which are expected to have an impact on financial performance. Findings The study found that the relationship of board size and board independence with the financial performance of a firm is in a non-linear inverted U-shape. The results are qualitatively similar for both ROA and Tobin’s Q after controlling industry fixed effects. Originality/value This is the first study in India which tests the non-linear relationship of board size and board independence with the financial performance of the firm. The study contributes to the limited literature on the implications of board characteristics on the performance of the firms in India.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (s1) ◽  
pp. 14-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ján Huňady ◽  
Marta Orviská

Abstract The paper deals with the problem of taxation and its potential impact on economic growth and presents some new empirical insights into this topic. The main aim of the paper is to verify an assumed nonlinear impact of corporate tax rates on economic growth. Based on the theory of public finance and taxation, we hypothesize that at relatively low tax rates it is possible that the impact of taxation on economic growth become slightly positive. On the other hand when the tax rates are higher a negative impact of taxation on economic growth could be expected. Despite the fact that the most of the existing studies find a negative linear relationship between these variables, we can also find strong support for a non-linear relationship from several theoretical models as well as some empirical studies. Based on panel data fixed-effects econometric models, we, as well, find empirical evidence for a non-linear relationship between nominal and effective corporate tax rates and economic growth. Our data consists of annual observations for the period 1999 to 2011 for EU Member States. Based on the results, we also estimated the optimal level of the corporate tax rate in terms of maximizing economic growth in the average of the EU countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Ying ◽  
Daniele Leone ◽  
Antonella Francesca Cicchiello ◽  
Antonella Francesca Cicchiello ◽  
Amirreza Kazemikhasragh

Purpose The economic shock posed by the current COVID-19 outbreak brought out a worldwide public health emergency with a close relationship between the industrial marketing practices, the health level of society and its economic development. The purpose of this study is to analyse the industrial dynamics in health care and their impact on economic growth and health status. Design/methodology/approach To empirically investigate the relationship between growth and health, the authors use a data set drawn from 29 selected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries over the period 2000 and 2019. Using panel regressions, the authors investigate the impact of the health-care industry measured in terms of health status, health expenditure, sales on pharmaceutical products, the number of persons working in health care and the coverage by private health insurances. Fixed effect and random effect regressions are used to estimate this model. Findings Overall, the results are suggestive of a nexus between the industrial marketing dynamics of health-care context and economic growth – both interacting and improving each other. As the quality of the health-care market enhances, the economy grows richer and the health status of the population improves considerably. Practical implications To support health-care markets in OECD countries, health policymakers need to formulate a long-term industrial health policy that addresses all the social and individual determinants of health. Originality/value To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study to provide a better understanding of the relationship between health-care industrial dynamics and economic growth in OECD countries along different dimensions.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Attahir Babaji Abubakar ◽  
Suleiman O. Mamman

PurposeThis study examines the effect of public debt on the economic growth of OECD countries by disentangling the effect into permanent and transitory components. The study covers 37 OECD countries.Design/methodology/approachThe Mundlak decomposition was employed to decompose the effect of public debt into its transitory and permanent effect on economic growth. To account for potential endogeneity problem, the Hausman and Taylor estimator was employed to estimate the decomposed model. Further, the study disaggregated the OECD model into country group models for further analysis of the dynamics of the relationship between the variables.FindingsThe findings of the study reveal that in the full OECD model public debt exerts a significant negative permanent and positive transitory effect on economic growth. This was robust to alternative model specifications. The magnitude of the negative permanent effect of debt was found to be larger than the positive transitory effect. Further, the estimates of the disaggregated models reveal that though public debt has a negative permanent effect across all the country groups, it was not the case for the transitory effect of debt. Also, a net public debt model was estimated, and its effect on public debt was found to be largely insignificant, exhibiting a Ricardian-like behaviour.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study, particularly in the OECD context that employed the Mundlak transformation to examine the permanent versus transitory effect of public debt on economic growth.


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