Impacts of health expenditures and environmental degradation on health status-Disability-adjusted life years and infant mortality.

Introduction: Human health and well-being are intimately related to environmental quality. In this respect, the present study contributes to the existing health economic literature by examining whether public and private health expenditures (PPHE) moderate the incidences of environmental degradation on the health status in Saudi Arabia, particularly disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and infant mortality. Methods: Using the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method. Results and Discussion: The empirical results revealed that (i) unconditional positive impacts of CO2 emissions on increasing DALYs and infant mortality; (ii) conditional negative impacts of public health expenditures on DALYs and infant mortality in all the estimated models, whereas global and private expenditure contribute only on reducing infant mortality; (iii) public health expenditure is more effective than private health expenditure in reducing infant mortality; (iv) the effects of the interactions between the indicators of both health expenditures and CO2 emissions on DALYs and infant mortality are negative and significant only for the specifications relating to public health expenditures, indicating that this later could be employed as a policy or conditional variable that moderates the adverse impacts of carbon emissions on the population's health status. Generally, the study presents an overview of environmental health change's effects and examine how these effects may be reduced through increasing health spending. The study provides recommendations for addressing health status, health expenditures, and carbon emissions, all of which are directly or indirectly linked to the study.

Environmental quality, healthcare and research and development in Saudi Arabia.

While global warming and climate change associated with increasing carbon dioxide are widely seen to be one of the most serious worldwide dangers to population health, little is known regarding "how" country alters the linkage between increasing CO2 emissions and population health outcomes. Current literature on the health effects of CO2 emissions recommends various factors that may establish a more robust link, including health expenditure and research and development. Therefore, the purpose of this inquiry is to examine the effectiveness of health expenditure and R&D in improving health outcomes through reducing CO2 emissions. Using data for Saudi Arabia over the period 2000-2018, the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) technique shows that (i) health and R&D expenditures decrease infant mortality and increase life expectancy; (ii) health and R&D expenditures reduce CO2 emissions in all the estimated models; (iii) health and R&D expenditures can improve health outcomes through reducing CO2 emissions; and (iv) health and R&D expenditures have both direct and indirect effect on health outcomes. Policy implications and limitations are also discussed.

Industrial growth, clean energy generation, and pollution: evidence from top ten industrial countries.

Unlike the previous study, this paper employs panel cointegration and Granger causation approaches to discuss the associations among carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, GDP growth, clean energy generation, and industrial growth for the top ten industrial countries spanning the period 1980-2014. The primary empirical outcomes show a two-way long-run association between environmental indicator, GDP growth, and clean energy generation, while one short-run causation from clean energy generation to CO2 emissions and from industrial growth to clean energy generation. The computed coefficients elasticity's under FMOLS, DOLS, and CCR estimates revealed that the clean energy generation statistically contributes to declining emissions of CO2 in Australia, Austria, and Chile while statistically increase emissions of CO2 in Denmark and the Netherlands. Industrial growth statistically contributes to reducing emissions of CO2 in Denmark and Norway but increases emissions in Chile, France, and Sweden. For the global panel, industrial growth leads to mitigate the rate of emissions while clean energy generation raises CO2 emissions in the long period. Investing in clean energy is needed to stimulate the growth of the industrial sector and then reduce the rate of emissions.

Does good governance moderate the financial development-CO2 emissions relationship?

This inquiry contributes to the previous literature by analyzing the empirical linkage between the development of the financial sector and carbon emissions in the presence of good governance. Specifically, we examine the ability of good governance in moderating the negative effect of financial development on environmental quality in Saudi Arabia over the period 1996-2016. Different indicators of financial development and governance quality are included in the analysis. Using the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) estimator, we find (i) the exostence of unconditional effects of the three indicators of financial sector development on increasing carbon emissions in most models; (ii) the indicators of governance quality increase carbon emissions in most models; (iii) the net effects on CO2 emissions are negative from the complementarity between the indicators of financial sector development and political and institutional governance, meaning that the development of financial sector reduces carbon emissions if it is accompanied by good institutional and political governance.