The Impact of Technological Innovation, Research and Development, and Energy Intensity on Carbon Emissions: An Experience from BRICS and OECD Countries

The impact of technological innovation, research and development, and energy intensity on carbon dioxide emissions is examined in this study. A panel data econometric analysis of relevant variables extracted from the OECD and World Development Indicators databases for 36 OECD and 5 BRICS countries from 2005 to 2018 reveals that the Kao panel cointegration test revealed all countries, BRICS countries, and OECD countries exhibited cointegrated relationships regarding the selected variables. At this point, the correlation matrix shows that none of the independent variables has a strong correlation coefficient with the dependent variable. We also used two regression methods to evaluate the long-run association between the study's variables; the two-stage least square (2SLS) and panel generalized method of moments (GMM) both provide similar results, indicating that they are robust. According to the findings, technological innovation and R&D have a positive association with CO2 emissions, but energy intensity has a negative relationship with CO2 emissions.

Digital Economy and Health: Does Green Technology Matter in BRICS Economies?

The present study attempts to examine the impact of digitization and green technology on the health outcomes of BRICS countries over the period of 1993–2019. Internet users measure digitalization, and health outcome is determined by life expectancy. The study employed the ARDL estimation approach for empirical investigation of country-specific analysis. GDP per capita and current health expenditures have been incorporated as control variables. The study findings reveal that digitalization results in increasing life expectancy in the long-run in BRICS except for Brazil. While green technology tends to enhance life expectancy in the long-run in Russia and China, it produces an insignificant impact on health outcomes in the short-run. While GDP and health expenditures also improve life expectancy in mostly BRICS economies in the long-run and short-run. Our study provides some policy implications for BRICS nations.

Secular trends in chronic respiratory diseases mortality in Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa: a comparative study across main BRICS countries from 1990 to 2019

Background As the emerging economies, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) shared 61.58% of the global chronic respiratory diseases (CRD) deaths in 2017. This study aimed to assess the secular trends in CRD mortality and explore the effects of age, period, and cohort across main BRICS countries. Methods Data were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2019 and analyzed using the age-period-cohort (APC) model to estimate period and cohort effects between 1990 and 2019. The net drifts, local drifts, longitudinal age curves, period/cohort rate ratios (RRs) were obtained through the APC model. Results In 2019, the CRD deaths across the BRICS were 2.39 (95%UI 1.95 to 2.84) million, accounting for 60.07% of global CRD deaths. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma remained the leading causes of CRD deaths. The age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR) have declined across the BRICS since 1990, with the most apparent decline in China. Meanwhile, the downward trends in CRD death counts were observed in China and Russia. The overall net drifts per year were obvious in China (-5.89%; -6.06% to -5.71%), and the local drift values were all below zero in all age groups for both sexes. The age effect of CRD presented increase with age, and the period and cohort RRs were following downward trends over time across countries. Similar trends were observed in COPD and asthma. The improvement of CRD mortality was the most obvious in China, especially in period and cohort effects. While South Africa showed the most rapid increase with age across all CRD categories, and the period and cohort effects were flat. Conclusions BRICS accounted for a large proportion of CRD deaths, with China and India alone contributing more than half of the global CRD deaths. However, the declines in ASMR and improvements of period and cohort effects have been observed in both sexes and all age groups across main BRICS countries. China stands out for its remarkable reduction in CRD mortality and its experience may help reduce the burden of CRD in developing countries.

Causes and Consequences of the Migration of Scientists and Students from the Brics Countries to Developed Economies

One of the major problems in the relationship between the Global South and the Global North is the the drain of intellectual capital from the economies and education systems of the most developed countries of the Global South, which bothers both developing countries and some European ones. The purpose of the study is to reveal the reasons for the migration of scientists and students from Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, South Africa (BRICS countries) and identify the consequences of the process through the example of a Russian university by studying the characteristics of personal experience and motivation of students and teachers. The research is devoted to the study of academic activity abroad and the attitude of 360 four- and five-year students and 321 teachers at Novosibirsk State University (Novosibirsk, the Russian Federation) towards the practice. The survey results revealed that a relatively small number of respondents (31.07% of teachers and 9.03% of students) have experience of foreign academic activity; the large majority of participants highly assessed the possibility of studying and working abroad (4.87 and 3.48 on a 5-point Likert scale among teachers and students, respectively). The results of the study are in line with the findings of similar studies on academic migration in other BRICS countries; therefore, they can be extrapolated in a broader context. In particular, according to all respondents, the possibility of repeated or circular migration is extremely low (0.88 and 1.61). The research results can help to manage international research and exchange programs, as well as to regulate university training programs and academic migration. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the motivation of scientists and students on academic migrating and their assessment of migration intentions based on an example of a single educational institution and region.

Trends and Determinants of FDI with Implications of COVID-19 in BRICS

Foreign direct investment (FDI) movement to any country is recognized as an important criterion for economic strength and potentiality. Hence, the present study analyzes the motives of FDI inflows through the determinants and channels, namely horizontal or vertical FDIs and the impact of COVID-19 on FDI Inflows in BRICS countries during the period 1990–2020. The Kinked Exponential (deterministic) trend, and Zivot and Andrew’s trend equations are applied for the growth analysis of FDI inflows. Regarding the estimation of channels of FDI inflows in terms of horizontal, vertical, and hybrid motivations, dynamic panel data analysis using GMM for BRICS economies together and ARDL-PMG for individual countries is made. The findings show significantly positive growth in FDI inflows in all BRICS countries except India during the first decade of the present century. After that, these countries have experienced either significantly or insignificantly declining trends, except India, where the trend has significantly increased during this later period. From the overall analysis, we see that both horizontal and vertical motivations play a dominant role in determining FDI inflows for the BRICS countries. However, from country-wise estimations, it is observed that both horizontal and vertical motives are dominant factors for FDI inflows to India and Russia. In contrast, the horizontal motive of it is significant for China. For Brazil and South Africa, no motive behind FDI inflows appears significant. The pandemic situation significantly impacts attracting FDI in Brazil, while it remains insensitive in the rest of the BRICS countries. The findings reveal that FDI determinants are country-specific. So, the BRICS countries can design proper FDI policy and adopt more reforms in attracting FDI that may help improve their economic situation.

Do Trade and Poverty Cause Each Other? Evidence from BRICS

Any two variables that are observable have one or the other form of relationship. This is particularly a statistical relationship. But for a statistical relationship to be cause and effect, a theoretical relationship is important. The theoretical relationship can be quantified to search for the evidence of causality. The possible outcomes can be no causality, unidirectional causality, or bidirectional causality. The present study aims at searching for evidence from BRICS countries regarding trade causing poverty or vice versa. Applied econometrics approach is used in the study. Panel econometric techniques have been employed to identify presence/absence of causality between the variables. Apart from this, the study also uses equality of means to identify whether trade and poverty proxies are symmetrical or asymmetrical. The study finds no causal relationship between trade and poverty for BRICS countries except that poverty headcount at $3.2 per day causes trade balance. With respect to the impact on the GINI index, lowest 10 percent income share and poverty headcount ratios are integral to reduce the inequality in the BRICS countries.

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment and Biomass Energy Consumption on Pollution in BRICS Countries: A Panel Data Analysis

The relationship between foreign direct investment and carbon emissions in the BRICS (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa) countries for 1992–2017 is investigated in this study. Biomass energy consumption and per capita income variables are also added to the model as additional determinants of pollution. To test the pollution haven hypothesis, panel fixed-effects and random-effects models are employed. The findings show that an N-shaped association exists between foreign direct investment and CO2 in BRICS countries. In addition, the empirical results also suggest that there is both an inverted-U and an inverted-N-shaped connection between income and pollution. Finally, the quadratic fixed-effects model results imply that biomass energy consumption has significant contribution to environmental degradation in these countries. When the results are interpreted, BRICS countries are suggested to provide more incentives to renewable energy sources and accelerate the development of the green energy system to attract clean resources and prevent environmental degradation.