From foreign direct investment to environmental regulations: Does a feedback effect ever exist?

This study revisits the feedback effect from foreign direct investments (FDI) on environmental regulations under the presence of the host country's political structure. Such a relationship may encounter the endogeneity problem due to the omitted variable bias and reverse causality. As such, the two-step system generalized method of moments is employed. Using data from 21 OECD countries from 1990 to 2019, we confirm that FDI flows influence environmental regulations, but such an effect is conditional on the host country's political constraints. Specifically, FDI increases (decreases) the stringency of environmental regulations if domestic political constraints are sufficiently high (low). Understanding the mechanisms of how FDI flows can affect environmental regulations allows countries to revise their policies to attract more FDI flows to support economic growth while simultaneously minimising their negative effects on the environment.

Does income inequality moderate the effect of fintech development on renewable energy consumption?

Fintech development is generally considered as an effective mechanism to promote the consumption of renewable energy sources. The relationship between fintech development and renewable energy consumption have been examined in previous studies. However, the moderating effect of income inequality on this relationship has largely been ignored in the existing literature. As such, this study is conducted to shed light on this moderating effect. Two estimation techniques, including the two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) and the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR), were used on a sample of 65 countries from 2013 to 2019. Our findings reveal that fintech development plays a vital role in promoting the consumption of renewable energy sources. However, it is crucial to recognize that rising income inequality may hinder the potential positive effects of fintech development on renewable energy consumption. A threshold of income inequality should be maintained to ensure that the positive effect of fintech development on increased renewable energy consumption is not compromised. Policy implications have emerged based on the findings from this study regarding promoting fintech development towards green economic growth and sustainable development.

The long-run effects of financial development on income inequality: Evidence from the Asia-Pacific countries.

Income inequality is a vexing developmental challenge for governments and policymakers as it impedes social transformation and economic growth and development. Meanwhile, promoting financial development is generally regarded as an effective way to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth. This study examines the long-run effects of financial development, economic growth, and their combined effects on income inequality for 12 Asia-Pacific countries from 1990 to 2021. This paper employs various econometric techniques and different financial development proxies to ensure the findings' robustness. The paper also constructs a financial development index using the principal component analysis to fully capture the comprehensive effect of financial development on income inequality. Empirical results reveal that the impact of financial development on income inequality follows the inverted U-shaped relationship - financial development widens income inequality and only reduces income when surpassing its turning point. Findings further reveal that the nonlinear effect of financial development on income inequality is contingent upon the level of per capita income. Thus, policies promoting financial development to reduce income inequality should consider the existing level of per capita income.

Single Atomic Defect Conductivity for Selective Dilute Impurity Imaging in 2D Semiconductors.

Precisely controlled impurity doping is of fundamental significance in modern semiconductor technologies. Desired physical properties are often achieved at impurity concentrations well below parts per million level. For emergent two-dimensional semiconductors, development of reliable doping strategies is hindered by the inherent difficulty in identifying and quantifying impurities in such a dilute limit where the absolute number of atoms to be detected is insufficient for common analytical techniques. Here we report rapid high-contrast imaging of dilute single atomic impurities by using conductive atomic force microscopy. We show that the local conductivity is enhanced by more than 100-fold by a single impurity atom due to resonance-assisted tunneling. Unlike the closely related scanning tunneling microscopy, the local conductivity sensitively depends on the impurity energy level, allowing minority defects to be selectively imaged. We further demonstrate subsurface impurity detection with single monolayer depth resolution in multilayer materials.