EVALUATING THE ROLE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN CAPITAL IN POVERTY REDUCTION AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH IN SOUTH ASIA

Economic growth necessitates the development of human capital and education. It plays a critical and necessary role in the formulation of income distribution policies and alleviating poverty. This study investigates the relationship through ordinary least square (OLS), fully-modified OLS and dynamic OLS models using panel data from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries from 1990 to 2018. According to the findings, imbalance plays an important role in influencing poverty and concludes that the government should embrace procedures that help improve pay distribution to reduce poverty at the strategy level. Furthermore, the findings state that a bi-directional Granger causality exists between schooling and poverty. In terms of strategy, SAARC countries should continue to increase the proportion of sustainable energy used for financial development, thereby decreasing the use of fossil energy for environmental improvements. Additionally, this study shows that the association of pay disparity hoses the positive effect of financial development on poverty, and it supports the contention that the degree of imbalance reduces the impact of comprehensiveness. Pay disparity is now a critical determinant of poverty.

Pathway towards Sustainability in Selected Asian Countries: Influence of Green Investment, Technology Innovations, and Economic Growth on CO2 Emission

Green investment and technology innovations are generally considered as an effective factor to mitigate CO2 emissions as these enhance cleaner production and energy efficacy. Thus, this study investigated the influence of green investment, technology innovations, and economic growth on CO2 emissions in selected Asian countries for the period 2001 to 2019. The Cross-Section dependency (CSD) signified the cross-section dependence in the panel countries, whereas CIPS and CADF testing affirmed the stationarity of all variables at the first difference. Consequently, the Westerlund cointegration method recognized a long-term association among variables. The outcomes of Panel Fully Modified OLS and Panel Dynamic OLS results indicated that green investment and technology innovations are helpful in mitigating CO2 emissions in selected Asian countries. In addition, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) postulate is validated for the given time period and indicated inverted U-shaped linkages between the economic growth and CO2 emission. The outcomes of the remaining variables, including population growth, energy consumption, FDI inflow, and trade, are estimated to have an augmenting influence on CO2 emission. Our results regarding the FDI–CO2 emissions nexus support the presence of the pollution-haven hypothesis. Moreover, the estimated results from PFMOLS and PDOLS are validated by Granger Causality, and AMG and CCEMG tests. The study suggests the adoption of renewable sources as energy input and the promotion of innovations for energy efficiencies to reduce CO2 emissions in Asian economies.

International Environmental Agreements and CO2 Emissions: Fresh Evidence from 11 Polluting Countries

This study attempts to evaluate the energy and carbon footprint within the framework of international environmental treaties and the efforts made by 11 large polluting countries to mitigate climate change. The econometric methodology accounts for the presence of cross-sectional dependence while it employs second-generation panel unit root tests and cointegrated relationships. To secure the robustness of our findings, we conduct an ARDL approach employing dynamic panel data techniques. Dynamic OLS is also applied to verify the validity of the empirical results. The empirical analysis supports that the reduction in CO2 emissions can be achieved without a slowdown in economic activity for the sample countries. The findings suggest insightful policy implications for policymakers and government officials.

Does Tourism Development Matter for the Economic Growth of Southeast Asian Countries?

Tourism can be a positive trigger to stimulate economic activities and growth. This study examined the relationships between domestic tourism spending, international tourism receipts and the economic growth of eight Southeast Asian countries from 1995-2018 using a Pedroni cointegration test, fully-modified OLS (FMLOS), dynamic OLS (DOLS) and Granger causality tests. The results showed a strong long-term relationship between economic growth, domestic tourism spending and international tourism receipts. Based on the results, Southeast Asian countries should increase tourism development to improve economic growth. Keywords: economic growth, domestic tourism, international tourism, tourism development

Impacts of Asset Utilization, Market Competition and Market Distance on Stock Returns

To empirically study the effects of asset utilization, market competition and market distance on stock returns of 1961 US public firms of different industry categories over 2001-2015. The heterogeneous panel data set consists of 23,532 (N= 1961*T= 15) observations. Pedroni’s panel co-integration, panel vector errorcorrection model (PVECM), panel dynamic OLS (PDOLS), and panel generalized method of moments (PGMM) are implemented. Both asset utilization and market competition have short-run and long-run positive effects on stock returns. But the effects of market distance are negative. The evidence for convergence toward the long-run equilibrium is very weak. Firms should be strategic to improve asset utilization, be more competitive and expand market distance to maximize stockholders’ wealth.

Banks’ Performance and Economic Growth in India: A Panel Cointegration Analysis

The banking sector plays a crucial role in the economic growth of a nation. The purpose of this study is to examine the long-term association between banks’ performance and the economic growth of a developing economy: India. The study used a panel of data of 20 public sector banks for the period 2009 to 2019. It applied the Pedroni and Kao test of co-integration, panel vector error correction model (VECM) dynamic, panel fully-modified ordinary least squires OLS (FMOLS), and dynamic OLS (DOLS) to estimate the relationship of interest margin return on assets, bank investment, and lending capacity of the bank with gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. The identification and incorporation of these bank-related variables are the innovations of this study. The results indicate that the bank-related variables are co-integrated with economic growth. Further analysis indicates a significant relationship between interest margin and return on assets with economic growth. In addition, lending capacity and investment activities are not significantly associated with economic growth, leading to the policy recommendation to improve upon these two factors in order to achieve higher growth rates.

Sustainability of the Moderating Role of Financial Development in the Determinants of Environmental Degradation: Evidence from Turkey

One of the questions that remain unanswered in the literature on determinants of carbon emissions is the moderating effect of “financial development”. This becomes imperative, owing to the connection of carbon emissions to environmental degradation, which is considered to be one of the main challenges to sustainable development. Thus, this study investigated the moderating role of financial development in the determinants of carbon emissions for Turkey during the period of 1960 to 2016. Zivot–Andrew and Lee–Strazicich “unit root tests” were utilized to investigate the stationarity properties of the series. The cointegration among the variables employed was examined by utilizing the ARDL bounds test and Bayer–Hanck cointegration test. In contrast, the long-run causal relationship of the variables with carbon emissions was examined by using fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), dynamic OLS (DOLS), and Canonical Cointegrating Regression (CCR). The empirical findings reveal the significance of “economic growth”, “capital formation”, “energy consumption”, “urbanization”, and “financial development” as determinants of environmental degradation in Turkey. The study also found the significant moderating role of “financial development” in the relationship between “economic growth” and carbon emissions, capital formation and carbon emissions, and urbanization and carbon emissions. The environmental–financial related policies were suggested for the policymakers in Turkey to aid the reduction of carbon emission with the view of improving environmental quality.

Drivers of export upgrading: Evidence from panel data for upper-middle and high income groups, low and lower-middle income groups

The objective of this study is to contribute with empirical evidence to the understanding of the determinants of export upgrading measured through two alternative indicators (export complexity level and degree of export diversification) using a cross-country panel dataset over the 1999-2013 period. For this purpose, a panel cointegration framework and two homogeneous subpanels have been considered based on the income level of the sample countries (upper-middle and high income groups, low and lower-middle income groups). Based on the Dynamic OLS (DOLS) and Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) technique, the results indicate that export upgrading of countries is enhanced by GDP per capita, knowledge creation ( this variable is differentiated into internal knowledge(i.e human capital and research & development) and external knowledge (i.e Foreign Direct Investment and imports) and Institutional quality. The effects of these determinants vary between low, lower-middle income, upper-middle and high income country.

The heterogeneous effect of democracy, economic and political globalisation on renewable energy

This paper summarises the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on international cooperation’s role in combatting climate change and its impacts. The primary purpose of the research is to determine renewable energy development reliance on democracy and globalisation levels. The objects for analysis are Ukraine and countries with different democracy regimes: full democracy (Finland, Denmark, Spain), flawed democracy (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic) and hybrid democracy (Ukraine, Turkey and Montenegro). To gain the research goal, the authors examined data on the share of renewable energy, GDP per capita, labour force and gross fixed capital formation from 2012 to 2019. The data was retrieved from the Eurostat database, World Data Bank, KOF Swiss Economic Institute and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The following methods and tests were used: Levin, Lin, and Chu test; Augmented Dickey-Fuller Fisher and PhillipsPerron Fisher unit root test; Im, Pesaran, Shin’s panel unit root tests. The authors used the Pedroni test to cointegration among variables. The Fully Modified OLS and Dynamic OLS panel cointegration techniques were applied to evaluate a statistically significant longer-term relationship between variables. The findings confirmed that for countries with the hybrid regime, the changes in political and economic globalisation provoked the rapid growth of renewable energy compare with countries from full and flawed democracy.

Drivers of export upgrading: Evidence from panel data for upper-middle and high income groups, low and lower-middle income groups

The objective of this study is to contribute with empirical evidence to the understanding of the determinants of export upgrading measured through two alternative indicators (export complexity level and degree of export diversification) using a cross-country panel dataset over the 1999-2013 period. For this purpose, a panel cointegration framework and two homogenous subpanels have been considered based on the income level of the sample countries (upper-middle and high income groups, low and lower-middle income groups). Based on the Dynamic OLS (DOLS) and Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) technique, the results indicate that export upgrading of countries is enhanced by GDP per capita, knowledge creation ( this variable is differentiated into internal knowledge(i.e humain capital and research & development) and external knowledge (i.e Foreign Direct Investment and imports) and Institutional quality. The effects of these determinants vary between low, lower-middle income, upper-middle and high income country.