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.

The impact of education level and economic freedom on gender inequality: panel evidence from emerging markets.

Gender equality is a critical factor for all ingredients of a healthy society and sustainable development. Therefore, measures to decrease gender inequalities in economic, social, and political life are important for the economic and social development of a society. This study analyzes the influence of education level and economic freedom on gender inequality in emerging markets over the 2000-2020 term through causality and cointegration tests. The results of the causality test uncover a bidirectional causality between education level, economic freedom, and gender inequality. In other words, there exists a mutual interaction among education level, economic freedom, and gender inequality in the short term. Furthermore, the findings of cointegration analysis indicate that education level and economic freedom have a negative impact on gender inequality in the long term, but education level is much more effective on gender inequality than economic freedom in nearly all emerging markets.

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.