scholarly journals Assessing the Co-Movements between Electricity Use and Carbon Emissions in the GCC area: Evidence from a Wavelet Coherence Method

Author(s):  
Ali Matar ◽  
Zeeshan Fareed ◽  
Cosimo Magazzino ◽  
Mahmoud Al-Rdaydeh ◽  
Nicolas Schneider

Abstract This paper investigates the association between CO2 emissions and a range of factors, including electricity consumption, economic growth, urbanization, and trade openness for six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries using data covering the 1965-2019 period. Namely, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. Contrasting with the standard literature, our empirical strategy uses the wavelet coherence approach on the frequency domain, thought to complement the time-series econometric procedures reported on this topic. Supplied at the country-level, associated evidence presents far-reaching policy recommendations whose applications may directly benefit environmental planning and bring high information value for the sake of sustainable energies in the Gulf region.JEL: Q43, C22, C23, E20, O44.

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Ahmad Ghazali Ismail ◽  
Arlinah Abd Rashid ◽  
Azlina Hanif

The relationship and causality direction between electricity consumption and economic growth is an important issue in the fields of energy economics and policies towards energy use. Extensive literatures has discussed the issue, but the array of findings provides anything but consensus on either the existence of relations or direction of causality between the variables. This study extends research in this area by studying the long-run and causal relations between economic growth, electricity consumption, labour and capital based on the neo-classical one sector aggregate production technology mode using data of electricity consumption and real GDP for ASEAN from the year 1983 to 2012. The analysis is conducted using advanced panel estimation approaches and found no causality in the short run while in the long-run, the results indicate that there are bidirectional relationship among variables. This study provides supplementary evidences of relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth in ASEAN.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002204262110063
Author(s):  
Brian King ◽  
Ruchi Patel ◽  
Andrea Rishworth

COVID-19 is compounding opioid use disorder throughout the United States. While recent commentaries provide useful policy recommendations, few studies examine the intersection of COVID-19 policy responses and patterns of opioid overdose. We examine opioid overdoses prior to and following the Pennsylvania stay-at-home order implemented on April 1, 2020. Using data from the Pennsylvania Overdose Information Network, we measure change in monthly incidents of opioid-related overdose pre- versus post-April 1, and the significance of change by gender, age, race, drug class, and naloxone doses administered. Findings demonstrate statistically significant increases in overdose incidents among both men and women, White and Black groups, and several age groups, most notably the 30–39 and 40–49 ranges, following April 1. Significant increases were observed for overdoses involving heroin, fentanyl, fentanyl analogs or other synthetic opioids, pharmaceutical opioids, and carfentanil. The study emphasizes the need for opioid use to be addressed alongside efforts to mitigate and manage COVID-19 infection.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232110133
Author(s):  
Per-Olof Busch ◽  
Hauke Feil ◽  
Mirko Heinzel ◽  
Jana Herold ◽  
Mathies Kempken ◽  
...  

Many international bureaucracies give policy advice to national administrative units. Why is the advice given by some international bureaucracies more influential than the recommendations of others? We argue that targeting advice to member states through national embeddedness and country-tailored research increases the influence of policy advice. Subsequently, we test how these characteristics shape the relative influence of 15 international bureaucracies’ advice in four financial policy areas through a global survey of national administrations from more than 80 countries. Our findings support arguments that global blueprints need to be adapted and translated to become meaningful for country-level work. Points for practitioners National administrations are advised by an increasing number of international bureaucracies, and they cannot listen to all of this advice. Whereas some international bureaucracies give ‘one-size-fits-all’ recommendations to rather diverse countries, others cater their recommendations to the national audience. Investigating financial policy recommendations, we find that national embeddedness and country-tailored advice render international bureaucracies more influential.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0958305X2110220
Author(s):  
Ngo Thai Hung

Previous studies ignored the distinction between short, medium, and long term by decomposing macroeconomic variables and human development index at different time scales. We re-visit the causal association between biomass energy (BIO), economic growth (GDP), trade openness (TRO), industrialization (IND), foreign direct investment (FDI), and human development (HDI) in China on a quarterly scale by scale basis for the period 1990 to 2019 using the tools of wavelet, i.e., wavelet correlation, wavelet coherence and scale by scale Granger causality test. The main findings uncover that IND, TRO, GDP, and BIO positively drive the HDI at low and medium frequencies, while FDI negatively impacts HDI during the sample period. Additionally, there is a bidirectional relationship between GDP and HDI at different time and frequency domains. Specifically, we discover that the positive co-movement is more robust in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, particularly for HDI, BIO, GDP, and TRO at medium frequencies throughout the period under research. Our empirical insights have significant implications for achieving human development sustainability in China.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 340
Author(s):  
Ewa Panek ◽  
Dariusz Gozdowski

In this study, the relationships between normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) obtained based on MODIS satellite data and grain yield of all cereals, wheat and barley at a country level were analyzed. The analysis was performed by using data from 2010–2018 for 20 European countries, where percentage of cereals is high (at least 35% of the arable land). The analysis was performed for each country separately and for all of the collected data together. The relationships between NDVI and cumulative NDVI (cNDVI) were analyzed by using linear regression. Relationships between NDVI in early spring and grain yield of cereals were very strong for Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia. This means that the yield prediction for these countries can be as far back as 4 months before the harvest. The increase of NDVI in early spring was related to the increase of grain yield by about 0.5–1.6 t/ha. The cumulative of averaged NDVI gives more stable prediction of grain yield per season. For France and Belgium, the relationships between NDVI and grain yield were very weak.


Author(s):  
Josefine Atzendorf ◽  
Stefan Gruber

AbstractEpidemic control measures that aim to introduce social distancing help to decelerate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their consequences in terms of mental well-being might be negative, especially for older adults. While existing studies mainly focus on the time during the first lockdown, we look at the weeks afterward in order to measure the medium-term consequences of the first wave of the pandemic. Using data from the SHARE Corona Survey, we include retired respondents aged 60 and above from 25 European countries plus Israel. Combining SHARE data with macro-data from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker allows us to include macro-indicators at the country level, namely the number of deaths per 100,000 and the number of days with stringent epidemic control measures, in addition to individual characteristics. The findings show that both macro-indicators are influential for increased feelings of sadness/depression, but that individual factors are crucial for explaining increased feelings of loneliness in the time after the first lockdown. Models with interaction terms reveal that the included macro-indicators have negative well-being consequences, particularly for the oldest survey participants. Additionally, the results reveal that especially those living alone had a higher risk for increased loneliness in the time after the first COVID-19 wave.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7271
Author(s):  
Uzziah Mutumbi ◽  
Gladman Thondhlana ◽  
Sheunesu Ruwanza

Households consume up to 20% of overall electricity consumption globally; hence, they are important role players in efforts towards promoting sustainable consumption. Research on electricity use behaviour is important for informing intervention strategies; however, relative to developed countries, research on this subject is lacking in developing countries where electricity access is limited. In South Africa, electricity use behaviour among poor neighbourhoods remains little studied and understood. This study was carried out among low-income households in Makhanda, South Africa, characterised by high poverty and unemployment rates, low education levels, and limited access to basic services. Using a self-reporting approach, electricity use behaviour of low-income households was assessed against a list of common household electricity use actions. A survey of 297 households was conducted. The findings show mixed results, with households reporting both good electricity use behaviour (e.g., cooling down hot food before refrigeration and using washing machines on full load) and wasteful actions (e.g., leaving appliances on standby). Our results show that electricity use behaviour was influenced by socio-psychological values including universalism, benevolence, hedonism, and power. Some of the reported electricity behavioural patterns are consistent with those previously reported among high-income households. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0958305X2110443
Author(s):  
Stephanie P Williams ◽  
Gladman Thondhlana ◽  
Harn Wei Kua

The societal benefits of addressing wasteful electricity use practices through behavioural interventions are now well-established. Surprisingly, in South Africa, where the economy is highly dependent on fossil fuel (coal) for electricity generation, this subject remains little studied and understood. The residential sector is a major electricity consumer, and high-income households, in particular, use a substantial proportion of total electricity with serious adverse impacts on grid stability and the environment, which can disproportionately affect the poor. Using a field-based experiment, this study examines the impact of behavioural interventions on household electricity savings and the determinants of success among high-income households in Johannesburg, South Africa. Over the intervention period, households exposed to a combination of electricity-saving information, frequent reminders and feedback on monthly electricity-saving performance showed mean electricity savings of about 1.5%, ranging from 2% to 4% of electricity, while households in the control group showed increased electricity consumption by approximately 11%. Out of all the demographic and personal value factors considered, age, achievement and benevolence promoted electricity savings, while household size, number of rooms, baseline electricity consumption and security inhibited savings. The findings empirically validate the impact of behavioural interventions on, and the positive influence of, personal values in promoting participation in electricity-saving actions within households.


Author(s):  
Kathleen M Carley ◽  
Geoffrey P Morgan ◽  
Michael J Lanham

We describe a multi-country, multi-stakeholder model for the accrual and use of nuclear weapons and illustrate the model’s value for addressing nuclear weapon proliferation issues using a historic Pacific Rim scenario. We instantiate the agent-based dynamic network model for information and belief diffusion using data from subject matter experts and data mined from open source news documents. We present the techniques that supported model instantiation. A key feature of this model and these techniques is enabling rapid model re-use through the ability to instantiate at two levels: generically and for specific cases. We demonstrate these generic and specific cases using a scenario regarding North Korea’s interest in nuclear weapons and the resulting impact on the Pacific Rim circa 2014, that is, prior to the fourth and fifth nuclear weapons tests by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. A key feature of this model is that it uses two levels of network interaction, the country level and the stakeholder level, thus supporting the inclusion of non-state actors and the assessment of complex scenarios. Using this model, we conducted virtual experiments in which we assessed the impact of alternative courses of action on the overall force posture and desire to develop and use nuclear weapons.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liana Christin Landivar

In all developed countries, women, especially mothers, work fewer paid hours than their spouses. However, the magnitude of the gender gap varies significantly by country, ranging from 2 to 20 hours per week in this study. Using data from the 2002 International Social Survey Programme, this article investigates whether work-hour regulations have a significant effect on household allocation of paid labour and gender work-hour inequality. Two main types of work-hour regulations are examined: standard weekly work hours and the maximum allowable weekly work hours. Results show that households in countries with shorter maximum weekly work hours had less work-hour inequality between spouses, as each additional allowable overtime hour over the standard workweek increased the work-hour gap between couples by 20 minutes. These results indicate that couples’ inequality in work hours and gender inequality in labour supply are associated with country-level work-hour regulations.


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