Revisiting the relationship between natural resources and environmental quality- can ICT break the "resource curse" in the environment?

Despite the prevalence of discussions on the "resource curse", the impact of natural resources on environmental quality for better or for worse has not been clearly answered, this study aims to answer the question by introducing the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). To that end, by using the Instrumental Variable Generalized Method of Moments (IV GMM) estimator and a sample of 102 developing and emerging economies from 2006 to 2016, this paper studies the impact of ICT on the relationship between natural resources and environmental quality. Specially, the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) captures the environmental quality. The results show that natural resources have a significant negative effect on EPI, specially, EPI decreases by one unit with a 1% increase in natural resource rents. ICT significantly mitigates this adverse effect, and marginal effects analysis further confirms its positive moderate effects. The results proved to be robust by Lewbel 2SLS and Driscoll-Kraay techniques or other robust tests. It is noteworthy that the adverse effect of natural resources on EPI is greater and the mitigating effect of ICT is more pronounced in low-income countries and lower-middle income countries. Overall, these results remind resource-based countries to vigorously develop ICT, and apply intelligent exploration, digital monitoring, or other digital technologies to realize the high-efficiency use of natural resources, reducing environmental pollution and ecological damage.

Do spatial spillovers matter? Estimating the impact of tourism development on CO2 emissions.

Most of the extant literature on the environmental impact of tourism has ignored the possible spatial interaction effects across countries. This study thus aims to re-investigate the impact of tourism development on CO2 emissions by taking spatial dependence into account. To that end, the spatial econometric techniques, which can address the issue of potential spatial dependence among countries, are adopted. Using a panel data of 95 countries over 2000-2014, the results confirm that there exists a significant spatial dependence among national CO2 emissions. Besides, the results provide confirmation that tourism development exerts a significant enhancing influence on CO2 emissions. Interestingly, we find that the promoting effect of tourism development on CO2 emissions primarily comes from the spillover effect rather than the direct effect, after considering spatial dependence. Finally, in light of the research findings, some policy implications are put forward to improve environmental quality.

How financial development affects CO2 emissions: A spatial econometric analysis.

Based on panel data from 97 countries over the period of 2000-2014, this study uses the spatial econometric model to reexamine the effect of financial development on CO2 emissions. The results indicated that there was a spatial correlation between CO2 emissions among countries during this period. More importantly, we found that a country's CO2 emissions could be influenced by the financial development of its neighbors. Specifically, the significantly negative spillover effect of financial development on CO2 emissions dominated the significant positive direct effect, thus suggesting a significant negative total effect. These findings imply that financial development plays a fundamental role in the mitigation of CO2 emissions, and that being surrounded by nearby countries with a high financial development could improve a country's environmental performance. These empirical insights are of particular relevance to policymakers as they act as a reminder of the importance of considering the influence of financial development both in a given country and in its neighboring countries.

Female parliamentarians and environmental performance: the role of the income threshold.

This paper investigates whether the effect of female parliamentarians on environmental performance differs by the level of income. To that end, a threshold estimation approach is applied to a panel of 91 countries over the period 2002-2012. The results suggest the existence of income threshold effects in female parliamentarians-environmental performance nexus. Specifically, when it is above the income threshold value, the extent of this positive correlation is much greater than below it. It means that theoretically although the female parliamentarians have a higher awareness of environmental protection and a positive effect on environmental performance than men, the economic development of countries will affect the implementation of this effect. Countries tend to prioritize economic development when income levels are low, only in high-income countries will the proportion of female parliaments significantly improve the country's environmental performance. These results provide some important implications for policymakers when considering the relationship between female parliamentarians and environmental performance.

Health care expenditure and GDP in African countries: evidence from semiparametric estimation with panel data.

A large body of literature studies on the relationship between health care expenditure (HCE) and GDP have been analyzed using data intensively from developed countries, but little is known for other regions. This paper considers a semiparametric panel data analysis for the study of the relationship between per capita HCE and per capita GDP for 42 African countries over the period 1995-2009. We found that infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births has a negative effect on per capita HCE, while the proportion of the population aged 65 is statistically insignificant in African countries. Furthermore, we found that the income elasticity is not constant but varies with income level, and health care is a necessity rather than a luxury for African countries.