Fresh evidence of the impact of economic complexity, health expenditure, natural resources, plastic consumption, and renewable energy in air pollution deaths in the USA? An empirical approach.

Most plastic waste generated from plastic consumption cannot be recycled and is destroyed by burning. As a result of burning plastics, microplastics spread into the atmosphere, increasing air pollution. Respiratory diseases and chronic health problems are caused by air pollution. Approximately 7 million people die each year due to pollution-related ailments. Therefore, it is crucial to provide empirical evidence rather than approximate estimates of the role of plastic consumption in air pollution-related deaths. Also, understanding the causes of air pollution-related deaths and demonstrating the policies' effectiveness will provide valuable insights for policymakers, the international community, and researchers. This study investigates the effects of plastic consumption, health expenditures, natural resources, economic complexity, and renewable energy on air pollution deaths in the USA from 1995 to 2019 using the novel Fourier Augmented ARDL method. The findings show that plastic consumption, health expenditures, natural resources, and economic complexity increase air pollution deaths, while renewable energy decreases it. Such findings imply that plastic consumption is an essential determinant of air pollution-related mortality, that health policy must be reconsidered, that efficient use of resources is important and that sophisticated economic structures do not always produce the desired results. Overall, policymakers should review health policies to reduce deaths from air pollution and take measures to support green growth using renewable energy and economic complexity tools.

The role of environmental technologies, institutional quality, and globalization on environmental sustainability in European Union countries: new evidence from advanced panel data estimations.

Factors such as investments in environmentally clean technologies, globalization, and institutional quality significantly increase environmental quality. The study aims to provide light on how environmental technologies, institutional quality, globalization, and economic growth affect a sustainable environment. In addition, this study evaluates the European Union's carbon zero target by 2050 and the results of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, which was put on the agenda at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-26). For this purpose, ten countries (Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland) that invest in the highest environmental technology in the European Union were selected in the study. The data range of the study is from 1990 to 2019. Also, the validity of the load capacity curve (LCC) hypothesis was investigated in these countries. The CCEMG and DCCE estimators were used to estimate long-run coefficients. When the panel was assessed as a whole, the LCC hypothesis was determined to be valid by both estimators. According to country-based results, it has been determined that the LCC hypothesis is valid only for Spain. The study also includes the following observations. (i) Environmental technologies increase LCF for Austria, improving environmental quality. (ii) Globalization reduces LCF for Austria. (iii) Institutional quality variable decreases LCF for Austria and increases LCF for Germany and France. These findings suggest that to attain a sustainable environment in the future, policymakers should raise research and development budgets for environmental technology, enhance the standards of institutions, and take globalization into account.

Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, energy technology investment, green technological innovation, and environmental sustainability in the United States: Testing the EKC and LCC hypotheses with novel Fourier estimation.

The energy sector represents one of the key contributors to environmental degradation. In this context, actions taken within the energy sector are paramount in the global effort to combat climate change. This study aims to investigate the impacts of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, energy technology investment, and green technological innovation on environmental sustainability in the context of EKC and LCC hypotheses in the USA from 1980 to 2015. While many studies in the literature focus on the EKC hypothesis, this study offers a comparative analysis of the EKC and LCC hypotheses with relevant variables. For this aim, the study uses the novel Fourier estimation methods. According to the results, the EKC and the LCC hypotheses are valid in the USA. Moreover, non-renewable energy consumption increases the ecological footprint. On the other hand, non-renewable energy consumption decreases the load capacity factor while renewable energy consumption increases it. Finally, energy technology investment and green technological innovation have an insignificant impact on the ecological footprint and the load capacity factor in both models. All results except energy technology investment and green technological innovation are consistent with our expectations. The USA has the potential to realize green growth. Policymakers should support the green technological innovation process and increase green investments.

Toward a sustainable growth path in Arab economies: an extension of classical growth model.

Background/Objectives: Many economies are on the trajectory of alternative growth drivers other than conventional capital and labor. Access to credit facilities is a pertinent indicator of economic growth. In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs-8) agenda, the national goal for sustainable development for most economies and Arab economies is no exception. Therefore, the current study adopts a traditional growth model by exploring the relationship between gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, credit for private sectors, ratio of exports, real GDP, and per labor force participants for selected Arab economies annually from 2001 to 2020. Research design: This study leverages the Fourier Kwiatkowski-Phillips-Schmidt-Shin (KPSS) unit root test and second-generation panel econometrics as estimation techniques, such as Westerlund and Edgerton panel cointegration test, and the use of two estimators, namely the augmented mean group (AMG) and common correlated error mean group (CCEMG), to obtain robust results. Findings: Empirical findings from Westerlund and Edgerton panel cointegration tests validate the long-run equilibrium relationship among the outlined variables. Further empirical results indicate that the share of exports is negatively significant with economic growth in countries such as Kuwait, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Jordan. Additionally, savings and labor force participation have a positive relationship with economic growth in individual countries such as Algeria and Bahrain. As per the panel, there is no significant relationship between labor force participation and economic growth. This indicates that the skilled labor force enhanced economic growth. Conclusions: These findings come with inherent far-reaching policy suggestions for economies and panels. Further details on country-specific policy actions are presented in the concluding section.

The impacts of the refugee population, renewable energy consumption, carbon emissions, and economic growth on health expenditure in Turkey: new evidence from Fourier-based analyses.

Health expenditures are affected by different macroeconomic variables. This study aims to examine the impact of renewable energy consumption, carbon emissions, the refugee population, and economic growth on Turkey's health expenditures from 1975 to 2019. For this purpose, firstly, the stationarity orders of the variables were examined with the Fourier-based stationarity test. The long-run effects of the variables on health expenditures were also examined using the Fourier-based cointegration test. The results show that there is a long-run relationship between health expenditures and the explanatory variables. In addition, long-run coefficients were calculated, and it was concluded that carbon emissions and the refugee population increased health expenditures while renewable energy consumption decreased. The causality results indicate that there is unidirectional permanent causality from health expenditures to renewable energy consumption and economic growth and bidirectional permanent causality between carbon emissions and health expenditures. Overall, adopting environmentally and renewable energy-friendly policies and controlling the refugee population are essential policy tools in terms of health expenditures.

Persistence of CO2 emissions in G7 countries: a different outlook from wavelet-based linear and nonlinear unit root tests.

Today, environmental issues such as the inability to control rising carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, climate change, and global warming are on the agenda of policy-makers and various organizations. The Paris Agreement, signed in 2016 and rejoined by the USA in 2021, emphasizes the need for decarbonization and the importance of CO2 reduction for sustainable development. Since environmental policies can have long-term effects on variables containing unit roots, it is important for policy-makers to understand the stochastic properties of CO2 emissions. In this context, we propose a new wavelet-based nonlinear unit root test to investigate the stationary properties of the per capita CO2 emissions for the G7 countries during the period 1868-2014. To compare results, we use eight different tests that take into account both the time-frequency domain difference, the nonlinear-linear difference, and smooth structural breaks. The results of the different linear tests illustrate that CO2 emissions have a unit root in the frequency domain for all countries. Moreover, nonlinear unit root test results indicate that the CO2 emissions for the UK are stationary in the time domain. Overall, we consider frequency domain test results, and conclude that CO2 emission policies have permanent effects for G7 countries. Based on the findings, we recommend that the G7 countries take long-term measures to reduce CO2 emissions, such as joint actions to improve environmental quality through fossil fuel conservation, renewable energy improvement, and environmental awareness programs.

Do transport taxes reduce air pollution in the top 10 countries with the highest transport tax revenues? A country-specific panel data analysis.

Recently, policymakers have been developing some policies to improve environmental quality. Environmental taxes are the most important of these policies. This study examines the effects of transport taxes, economic growth, and fossil fuel energy consumption on air pollution within the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis framework. The study used data from 1994 to 2019 for the ten countries with the highest transport tax revenues. According to the results, while the EKC hypothesis is valid for Portugal and Switzerland, it is not valid for all other countries. Moreover, fossil fuel energy consumption seems to increase air pollution in all countries except the Netherlands and Switzerland. However, transport taxes increase air pollution in Brazil. Therefore, transport taxes are not effective in reducing air pollution. In this context, it was concluded that the structure of transport taxes should be improved or reformed. In addition, it has been underlined that those national decisions alone will not be sufficient to improve transport taxes or environmental taxes. Therefore, regulations to be made with international coordination will be more successful in combating environmental problems by preventing tax competition and increasing tax harmonization.

The influence of financial openness, trade openness, and energy intensity on ecological footprint: revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for BRICS countries.

This study aims to examine the impact of economic growth, financial openness, trade openness, and energy intensity on the ecological footprint of BRICS countries for the period 1996-2016 in the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). In the research phases, the effects of financial openness and trade openness on ecological footprint were examined both individually and as a whole using three models. The results indicate that the EKC hypothesis is not valid in all BRICS countries. Specifically, the individual results demonstrate that the EKC model using financial openness is valid only for India, while the EKC model using trade openness is valid both for India and South Africa. Furthermore, financial openness has reduced environmental pollution in India and South Africa. Trade openness has reduced environmental pollution in China and India, while it has increased in South Africa. Lastly, energy intensity has increased environmental pollution in all countries except Russia for both models. Overall, policy-makers should develop policies to reduce energy intensity in BRICS countries.

Revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis using innovation: new evidence from the top 10 innovative economies.

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between ecological footprint, economic growth, renewable energy consumption, and innovation within the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for the top 10 innovative economies, namely, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Korea, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA, in the period of 1990-2015. For this purpose, the long-term relationship between variables was examined with a panel cointegration test. The results show that the variables in the EKC model move together in the long run. According to the long-run estimation results, the EKC hypothesis is valid for Israel, but not for the other countries. The study also makes the following observations: (i) For Korea, the USA, Finland, and the whole panel, innovation appears to reduce environmental pollution. (ii) Renewable energy consumption reduces environmental pollution for Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, and the USA. (iii) Globalization has an impact on the reduction of environmental pollution for Germany and Switzerland. As a result, developing policies on the use of more innovative technologies in the countries studied will have a positive impact on environmental pollution. Graphical abstract.

The effect of economic growth on obesity for the most obese countries: new evidence from the obesity Kuznets curve.

In this study, the relationship between obesity and economic growth has been examined within the framework of the obesity Kuznets curve (OKC) for the top 20 obese countries from 1991 to 2016 using bounds test based on ARDL. Multiple models were used in the study, including unemployment variable instead of single model. The bounds test results show that there is a cointegration between the variables in all countries except Bahamas, Fiji, Mexico, New Zealand, Tunisia, and UK. The long-run coefficients show that OKC hypothesis is valid for Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The main finding of this study is that countries should improve the welfare of individuals to encourage healthy lifestyles and reduce obesity risks.