Linking Information Communication Technology, trade globalization index, and CO2 emissions: evidence from advanced panel techniques.

Previous studies consider ICT a two-edged sword that can harm or benefit the environment. In recent years, ICT penetration has considerably increased in the ASEAN-6 countries and the leaders of ASEAN are willing to bring a digital revolution by increasing ICT infrastructure and reducing trade barriers in the region under the Master Plan of ASEAN Connectivity-2025. Hence, this paper explores the effect of ICT and the recently developed trade globalization index on CO2 emissions in ASEAN-6 countries. The study relies on advanced panel econometric approaches, including Westerlund (2007, 2008) and Pedroni cointegration tests, CUP-FM long-run method, and panel DH causality approach. The results suggest cointegration among variables. The results of CUP-FM indicate that ICT contributes to improving environmental quality by mitigating CO2 emissions. Similarly, trade globalization is also sustainable in the region as it reduces emissions. The results are also confirmed by using the CUP-BC estimator. The findings from the DH causality test unfold causality from ICT and trade globalization index to CO2 emissions. Besides, the long-run estimates reveal the detrimental effect of energy consumption on emissions and the U-shaped association between GDP and emissions. Moreover, unidirectional causality from ICT to trade globalization index and energy consumption indicates that ICT influences trade globalization and energy consumption. Finally, environmental policies in the context of ASEAN are extensively discussed.

The impact of natural resources, energy consumption, and population growth on environmental quality: Fresh evidence from the United States of America.

We examine the impact of the amount of natural resources, energy consumption, and population growth on the ecological footprint and CO2 emissions using data of the United States (USA) from 1971 to 2016. In the course of this study, we developed a comprehensive empirical analysis and applied structural break Zivot-Andrews and Breakpoint ADF unit-roots tests for stationary analysis. The co-integration analysis indicates long-run relationships among the variables. Subsequent findings of the generalized method of moments (GMM), generalized linear model (GLM), and robust least-squares reveal an inverse relationship of natural resources and renewable energy consumption with the ecological footprint and CO2 emissions, while non-renewable energy consumption, population growth, and biocapacity have a positive relationship with the ecological footprint and CO2 emissions. Overall, our findings suggest that natural resources and renewable energy consumption improve environmental quality in the long run, while population growth and non-renewable energy consumption contribute to its deterioration. In addition, the result of pairwise Granger causality reveals that bidirectional causality runs between natural resources and CO2 emissions and between natural resources and the ecological footprint, while unidirectional causality runs from population growth to energy consumption, the ecological footprint, and CO2 emissions. Policymakers in the USA are encouraged to establish policies that control the excessive use of natural resources, promote sustainable lifestyles, develop energy-efficient carbon pricing, and fix the ecological budget to secure a sustainable future for the country.

Asymmetric impact of exchange rate on trade between Vietnam and each of EU-27 countries and the UK: evidence from nonlinear ARDL and the role of vehicle currency.

The relationship between exchange rate and trade balance has been spotlighted in the past several decades and thus examined by manifold research. The findings, however, lack of consensus despite the intensive efforts in investigating the role of exchange rate as an important determinant of trade balance in various countries. Although the existing papers are abundant, most of them neglect the role of vehicle currency. Besides, few articles are dedicated to Vietnam, and none has inspected the exchange rate-trade balance nexus between Vietnam and the EU. This study is the first to scrutinize how bilateral exchange rates, together with vehicle currency exchange rate, asymmetrically impact Vietnam's bilateral trade balance with respect to EU-27 countries and the UK. The NARDL estimation results strongly acknowledge the importance of USD as vehicle currency when more significant short-run and long-run coefficients are found. Accordingly, this article can provide some useful implications for policy-makers, especially when Vietnam was first labelled currency manipulator by the USA in December 2020. Particularly, USD/VND movement can affect not only Vietnam-USA but also Vietnam-EU and Vietnam-UK trade balance. In addition, VND appreciation against USD seems beneficial to Vietnam's bilateral trade with the EU plus the UK.

The energy-growth nexus revisited: the role of financial development, institutions, government expenditure and trade openness.

Although the energy-growth nexus has been widely investigated in the last several decades, there are still vivid debates in the energy economics field. This study evaluates the link between energy consumption and economic growth with the thorough assessment of the roles of institutional quality, government expenditure, financial development and trade openness in 46 Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs) from 1990 to 2014. By employing appropriate panel econometric techniques, cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity are controlled, which helps explore the unbiased long-run effects of the determinants of economic growth as well as scrutinize the dynamic relationship among variables. The findings demonstrate that energy usage, gross fixed capital formation, government expenditure, financial development and trade openness positively and significantly impact the economic growth in the studied EMDEs. Moreover, Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality tests affirm the occurrence of feedback hypothesis in the connection between energy consumption and other variables including economic growth. Thus, it implies that energy consumption and economic growth are interdependent, which forms a basis for policy-makers to design effective energy and environmental policies. Toward the sustainable development goal, the author recommends the governments of EMDEs to contemplate the importance of finance-governance-trade relationship to economic growth alongside the implementation of energy-efficient policies.

The impacts of globalization, financial development, government expenditures, and institutional quality on CO2 emissions in the presence of environmental Kuznets curve.

The main objective of this study is to examine the impacts of globalization, financial development, government expenditures, and institutional quality on CO2 emissions, incorporating energy consumption, and GDP per capita in the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model for 47 Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs) between 1990 and 2014. Owing to the presence of cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity in the panel data, CADF and CIPS unit root tests are employed to validate the stationarity of the variables. Westerlund (Oxf Bull Econ Stat 69:709-748, 2007) and Banerjee and Carrion-i-Silvestre (J Time Ser Anal 38:610-636, 2017) cointegration tests denote the occurrence of cointegration among the variables. We employed CCEMG, AMG, and DCCE estimators to estimate heterogeneous parameters. The findings demonstrate that globalization, financial development, and energy consumption increase CO2 emissions. Besides, the EKC hypothesis is affirmed in EMDEs. The accrual of governments' financial and governance activities also boosts carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, the analysis of Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality provides evidences for the feedbacks among the variables and CO2 emissions. From the aforementioned results, there exists the trade-off effect between economic growth and environmental quality in EMDE countries. Finally, the empirical findings of this study indicate profound implications for policy makers, which recommend governments to consider the role of finance and governance in order to ensure that energy consumption, financial development, and sustainable economic growth are in harmony with the environment in the globalization era.

The energy consumption structure and African EMDEs' sustainable development.

This research evaluates the importance of renewable power and conventional fuels consumption in the economic growth of 20 African EMDEs towards sustainable development. Due to the evidence of slope heterogeneity alongside cross-sectional dependence, the author applies second-generational econometric techniques for heterogeneous panel data. After detecting the long-term relationship among all variables using Westerlund panel-data cointegration test, the long-run estimates are computed by AMG, MG and CCEMG estimators, which indicates that nonrenewable and renewable energy usage fosters African EMDEs' economic growth. Besides, capital, government expenditure, and trade openness also encourage economic growth. Moreover, the causality analysis (using Dumitrescu and Hurlin test) supports the feedback effects among the selected variables and economic growth. The findings provide critical implications for sustainable energy policies that contribute to the sustainable development of African EMDEs.

Hydrogen adsorption mechanism of MOF-74 metal-organic frameworks: an insight from first principles calculations.

The microscopic mechanism of the H2 adsorption of two Mg-MOF-74 isoreticular frameworks, one with a benzenedicarboxylate (BDC) linker and the other with a dihydroxyfumarate (DHF) linker, were studied on the basis of density functional theory (DFT) method. Possible adsorption sites on the internal surface of the two MOFs were detected using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) annealing simulations. The simulations were able to reproduce all adsorption sites which have been experimentally observed for the BDC-based M-MOF-74 frameworks with M = Ni and Zn. In descending order of binding strengths, they are the adsorption sites primarily induced by the open metal sites P1, the oxygen atoms of the oxido groups P2 and the aromatic rings P3. The H2-framework binding strengths were properly evaluated by taking into account the vibrational zero-point energy (ZPE) contribution. An additional type of adsorption sites induced by the oxygen atoms of the carboxyl groups P4 is predicted for the Mg-MOF-74 framework. Two types of adsorption sites primarily induced by the open metal sites P1 and oxygen atoms of the carboxyl groups P2 were predicted for the DHF-based Mg-MOF-74 framework. Detailed analysis of the electron density showed that the electrostatic interaction of the H2 molecule with the charge distribution of the local framework environment within a radius of ∼3.5 Šis a key factor to define adsorption positions and binding strength. The absence of the P4 sites in the BDC-based Zn-MOF-74 framework is caused by the lower charge density at the oxygen atoms induced by less electro-positive metal. The substitution of the nonaromatic DHF linker for the aromatic BDC linker reduces the binding strength at the metal induced adsorption sites by 1.45 kJ mol-1 due to the absence of the aromatic ring.