ICT penetration and life expectancy in emerging market economies: panel evidence from asymmetric causality analysis.

BACKGROUND: Life expectancy is a significant result indicator of public health and sustainable development. Therefore, one of the final objectives of all economic and social policies is to increase the life expectancy. In this context, a limited number of researchers have investigated the relationship between ICT penetration and life expectancy. However, multiple interaction channels exist between ICT penetration and life expectancy. Furthermore, the studies have usually focused on the effect of ICT penetration on life expectancy through regression and ignored the effect of life expectancy on ICT penetration to a large extent. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to the empirical literature by investigating the causal relationship between ICT indicators and life expectancy. METHODS: This study uses symmetric and asymmetric causality approaches to investigate the two-way interaction between ICT indicators and life expectancy in emerging market economies over the 1997-2020 period. Employment of the asymmetric causality test enables us to analyze the hidden relationships between ICT indicators and life expectancy, unlike the traditional causality test. RESULTS: The results of the symmetric causality test uncover a bidirectional causal interaction between mobile subscriptions and life expectancy but a one-way causal relationship from life expectancy to internet usage. However, the asymmetric causality test results uncover a unidirectional causal relationship between mobile subscriptions and life expectancy in China, Colombia, Czechia, Egypt, Greece, India, Kuwait and Turkiye due to positive shocks from mobile subscriptions. On the other hand, a bidirectional causal interaction exists between internet usage and life expectancy in all countries due to negative shocks from internet usage and life expectancy. Last, a unidirectional causal relationship exists between internet usage and life expectancy in all countries due to positive shocks from internet usage. CONCLUSION: ICT indicators significantly influence life expectancy health in a sample of emerging market economies. Therefore, internet usage and mobile devices are significant tools to improve life expectancy.

Exploration on terrorism, ecological footprint and environmental sustainability in countries with the most terrorism antecedent: Accessing evidence from panel fourier analysis.

Amidst increased concerns for global security and ecological balance, the intricate interconnectedness between terrorism and environmental sustainability has attracted significant attention in the existing literature. To this end, the present study explores the interaction among environmental degradation, terrorism, and foreign direct investments in 17 countries with the most terrorism antecedents over the 2002-2018 period through the Panel Fourier cointegration test and the Panel Fourier Toda-Yamamoto causality test. The present study also leverages recent and robust panel analysis for evidence-based results and inferences for policy formulation. The panel Fourier cointegration test presents the cointegration relationship between the outline variables under review. Empirical findings highlight that terrorism does not have a significant influence on the ecological footprint. However, foreign direct investment has a positive influence on the ecological footprint. These findings have implications for environmental sustainability and foreign direct investment inflows in the bloc investigated. More insights are discussed in the concluding section with policy caveats.

Impact of educational attainment and economic globalization on obesity in adult females and males: Empirical evidence from BRICS economies.

Obesity has considerably increased since 1980 and become a global epidemic. Obesity-related health problems and the negative social and economic implications of obesity have led international institutions and countries to combat it. This study investigates the role of educational attainment and economic globalization in the global prevalence of obesity in samples of adult females and males in BRICS economies for 1990-2016 through causality and cointegration tests. The results of the causality tests reveal that educational attainment and economic globalization have a significant influence on obesity in both adult females and males in the short run. Furthermore, cointegration analysis indicates a negative effect of educational attainment on obesity in all BRICS economies in the long run, but the influence of economic globalization on obesity differs among the BRICS economies. Furthermore, the negative influence of educational attainment on obesity is revealed to be relatively higher in females than males.

Economic Freedom, Education and CO2 Emissions: A Causality Analysis for EU Member States.

Environmental sustainability is one of three pillars of sustainability. However, a significant worldwide deterioration in the environment has been experienced since the Industrial Revolution, but the efforts to protect the environment date back to the 1970s. In this context, many economic and non-economic factors underlying environmental degradation have been investigated until today, but the influence of economic freedom indicators and education on the environment have been relatively less analyzed and the researchers have mainly focused on the influence of economic and institutional variables on the environment. Therefore, this paper investigates the reciprocal interplay among economic freedom indicators, education, and environment in EU member states over the 2000-2018 term by using a causality test with cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity and taking the research gap into consideration. The causality analysis indicates that market-oriented economic structure and education can be beneficial in combatting environmental degradation.

Impact of Economic Freedom and Educational Attainment on Life Expectancy: Evidence From the New EU Member States.

Life expectancy is a significant indicator of public health, life quality, welfare and economic development. Therefore, improvement in life expectancy is among the priority targets of the countries. This paper investigates the effect of economic freedom and educational attainment on life expectancy in the new EU member states, experiencing an institutional, educational, and economic transformation, during the period 2000-2019 by using cointegration and causality tests, because economic freedom and educational attainment can foster the life expectancy through institutional and economic variables such as institutions, governance, sound monetary and fiscal policies, economic growth, innovation, technological development, better living standards and access to superior healthcare services. The causality and cointegration analyses reveal that economic freedom and educational attainment are significant factors underlying life expectancy in the short and long term. However, educational attainment is found to be more effective on life expectancy than economic freedom. The findings have important implications for educational and health policies in analyzed countries. Governments must understand the education-health relationship to be able to develop and promote educational policies that have the potential to improve public health.

Impact of Environment, Life Expectancy and Real GDP per Capita on Health Expenditures: Evidence from the EU Member States.

This research explores the impact of environment, life expectancy, and real GDP per capita on health expenditures in a sample of 27 EU member states over the 2000-2018 period through causality and cointegration analyses. The causality analysis revealed a significant unilateral causality from variables of greenhouse gas emissions, life expectancy, and real GDP per capita to health expenditures. In other words, greenhouse gas emissions, life expectancy, and real GDP per capita had a significant impact on health expenditures in the short run. The cointegration analysis indicated that life expectancy and real GDP per capita had a significant positive impact on health expenditures at the overall panel. On the other side, the country level cointegration coefficients revealed that life expectancy had a considerable positive impact on health expenditures, real GDP per capita had a moderate positive impact on the health expenditures in most of the countries in the panel, but the environment proxied by greenhouse gas emissions had a low positive or negative impact on the health expenditures in a limited number of countries.

Do Environmental Stringency Policies and Human Development Reduce CO2 Emissions? Evidence from G7 and BRICS Economies.

This study explores the impact of environmental policies and human development on the CO2 emissions for the period of 1995-2015 in the Group of Seven and BRICS economies in the long run through panel cointegration and causality tests. The causality analysis revealed a bilateral causality between environmental stringency policies and CO2 emissions for Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and a unilateral causality from CO2 emissions to the environmental stringency policies for Canada, China, and France. On the other hand, the analysis showed a bilateral causality between human development and CO2 emissions for Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and unilateral causality from CO2 emissions to human development in Brazil, Canada, China, and France. Furthermore, the cointegration analysis indicated that both environmental stringency policies and human development had a decreasing impact on the CO2 emissions.