The effects of financial development and technological progress on environmental sustainability: novel evidence from Asian countries.

This research is an endeavor to improve the literature on information and communication technology (ICT)-financial development-environmental sustainability nexus by conducting an aggregated and disaggregated analysis on the role of financial development and technological progress in attaining a sustainable environment. By employing a unique and comprehensive set of financial development and ICT indicators, this study offers an in-depth analysis of the role of financial development, ICT, and especially their interactions in maintaining environmental sustainability in 30 Asian economies from 2006 to 2020. Results from the two-step system generalized method of moments indicate that separately, both financial development and ICT are detrimental but together, their joint effects are beneficial to the environment. Several policy implications and recommendations are made to help policymakers to craft, design, and implement appropriate policies to improve environmental quality.

Role of financial inclusion and export diversification in determining green growth: evidence from SAARC economies.

This study quantifies the impact of financial inclusion and export diversification in attaining the target of green growth for SAARC economies during the period 2000 to 2019. For the analysis purpose, this study employed second-generation econometric techniques that deal with heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence issues. To this end, CUP-FM and CUP-BC are used to investigate the long-run dynamic equilibrium relationship among the variables of interest. The outcomes show that financial inclusion and institutional quality are eco-friendly variables and play a vital role in attaining green growth. In contrast, export diversification and FDI are inversely related with green growth in SAARC economies. Furthermore, a unidirectional causality running from financial inclusion to green growth and financial inclusion to export diversification is observed. On the basis of investigated outcomes, this research suggests essential policy recommendations to attain green growth.

Forestation, renewable energy and environmental quality: Empirical evidence from Belt and Road Initiative economies.

The project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was initiated by China to enhance the level of economic cooperation among partner economies. The study empirically evaluates the link between renewable energy consumption, forest area and emissions of CO2 among 33 partner economies of BRI for the period of 1986-2018. Study utilizes cointegration and heterogeneous Granger causality framework to explore the long-run and causal linkage among variables. Empirical evidence suggests that expansion in renewable energy consumption and increase in forestation will help to reduce the emissions of CO2 among the economies of BRI. However, the estimated findings of Granger causality reveal feedback causation between renewable energy consumption and forest area and unidirectional causation running from per capita income to environmental quality. The study signifies the importance of investment in renewable energy projects and forest management areas among the partner economies of BRI.

Association between health expenditures, economic growth and environmental pollution: Long-run and causality analysis from Asian economies.

This study examines the association between health expenditures, economic growth (EG) and environmental pollution in Asia both at panel and country level. The separate impact of EG and environmental pollution on public and private health expenditures (PRHEs) are also examined. In doing so the panel cointegration tests with the level break, common correlated effects mean group and heterogeneous panel causality test are employed. The study covers 20 Asian economies and time-period from 1995 to 2017. The results provide evidence in support of a long run association between selected variables. The results explain that EG and environmental pollution are positively associated with total health expenditures as well as with public and PRHEs in all countries. However, the magnitude of environmental pollution coefficient is greater from EG coefficient, thus indicate that environmental pollution is the key determinant in increasing national health expenditures. Causality results demonstrate the existence of two-way causality between health expenditures and EG and unidirectional causality flowing from environmental pollution to health expenditures in Asian economies. Findings of this study have provided some important suggestions to policy makers which can be used to minimize the risk of environmental pollution on health in Asian economies.

Empirical analysis of CO2 emissions and sustainable use of energy sources in Pakistan.

Pakistan is experiencing increasing CO2 emissions in contrast with other regions of the world. The country is also facing the problems of low economic growth, energy poverty, and environmental pollution. The objective of the study is to analyze economic growth of Pakistan and obtain some alternate sources of production for sustainable environment. Time series data of Pakistan from 1985 to 2018 is used. In order to estimate direct and substitution effect among energy and non-energy factors on economic growth, translog functional form is used. The presence of multicollinearity among explanatory variables approves to employ ridge regression. Capital per worker has the highest elasticity (0.1531) among all variables followed by consumption of oil (0.0571), natural gas (0.0333), technology (0.0329), and hydroelectricity (0.02). Average output elasticity for oil, natural gas, hydroelectricity, capital per worker, and technology are 0.4474, 0.3127, 0.433, 1.0037, and 0.2309, respectively. Technical progress of variables is ranked as capital per worker, oil consumption, natural gas consumption, hydroelectricity, and technology. Relatively lower but efficient substitution between oil and natural gas provides opportunity to save huge foreign exchange on import of oil. Investment on capital per worker in transport, power, fertilizer, and industrial sectors can reduce the demand of oil and natural gas which would eventually lower carbon dioxide emissions in the country. Increasing 10% investment on capital/worker would mitigate 208.283 million tons of carbon dioxide. Energy inputs are substitutes; therefore, mega hydropower projects and small renewable projects may be launched to cope with energy poverty and environmentally sustainable challenges.

Thyroid Screening During Early Pregnancy and the Need for Trimester Specific Reference Ranges: A Cross-Sectional Study in Lahore, Pakistan.

Background Derangements in thyroid hormone levels can cause multiple complications in the mother and the foetus. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (free T4 or FT4) levels are used to screen for maternal thyroid dysfunction; these should be compared with population based trimester-specific reference ranges. Our goal was: to determine the prevalence of various thyroid derangements, in early pregnancy, according to the current reference ranges available; to determine the need for trimester specific reference ranges for the local population. Methods A multi-centric, cross sectional population survey was conducted in Lahore, Pakistan. Serum TSH and FT4 levels were measured at the hormone lab of the Pathology department of Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore. The results were entered and analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.  Results In the 293 women sampled, mean FT4 and TSH levels were 15.03 (±5.62) pmol/L and 2.53 (±6.82) mIU/L respectively. According to the laboratory specific reference ranges, the prevalence of overt hyperthyroidism was 4.10%, (mean TSH= 0.03mIU/L); subclinical hyperthyroidism was 16.38%, (mean TSH= 0.17mIU/L); normal 70.65%, (mean TSH = 1.29mIU/L); subclinical hypothyroidism 4.44%, (mean TSH= 15.11mIU/L); overt hypothyroidism 4.44%, (mean TSH = 20.60mIU/L). Conclusion Our study showed a significant prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in the first trimester of pregnancy, and therefore highlights the need for more rigorous thyroid screening of women, in early pregnancy. There is a need to monitor these women in order to reduce maternal and foetal complications. Trimester specific reference ranges for thyroid hormones need to be developed in Pakistan.

Assessing links between energy consumption, freight transport, and economic growth: evidence from dynamic simultaneous equation models.

We investigate this study to examine the relationship between economic growth, freight transport, and energy consumption for 63 developing countries over the period of 1990-2016. In order to make the panel data analysis more homogeneous, we apply the income level of countries to divide the global panel into three sub-panels, namely, lower-middle income countries (LMIC), upper-middle income countries (UMIC), and high-income countries (HIC). Using the generalized method of moments (GMM), the results prove evidence of bidirectional causal relationship between economic growth and freight transport for all selected panels and between economic growth and energy consumption for the high- and upper-middle income panels. For the lower-middle income panel, the causality is unidirectional running from energy consumption to economic growth. Also, the results indicate that the relationship between freight transport and energy use is bidirectional for the high-income countries and unidirectional from freight transport to energy consumption for the upper-middle and lower-middle income countries. Empirical evidence demonstrates the importance of energy for economic activity and rejects the neo-classical assumption that energy is neutral for growth. An important policy recommendation is that there is need of advancements in vehicle technology which can reduce energy intensity from transport sector and improve the energy efficiency in transport activity which in turn allows a greater positive role of transport in global economic activity.