Food insecurity, environment, institutional quality, and health outcomes: evidence from South Asia.

BACKGROUND: Food insecurity and environmental degradation pose significant threats to health outcomes in South Asia, necessitating effective policy interventions. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of food insecurity and environmental degradation on health outcome indicators amidst global inflationary shocks and institutional quality arrangements. Additionally, it aims to explore the intricate moderating role of institutional quality on the relationship between food insecurity, endogenous variables, and external shocks. METHOD: In alignment with the study's objectives, a set of panel data spanning from 2000 to 2021 is compiled for South Asia. The study introduces a novel variable representing inflationary shock, crafted through the integration of inflation datapoints and the application of the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model. Additionally, a distinctive aggregate institutional quality index is formulated, drawing from six key measures of the Worldwide Governance indicators. To scrutinize the effects of food insecurity, environmental degradation, and other explanatory variables, the study employs the two-step system generalized method of moment technique, offering a robust analytical approach to uncover complex relationships and dynamics in the region. RESULTS: The results indicate that the prevalence of undernourishment, inequality in per capita calorie intake, and CO2 emissions significantly reduce life expectancy and increase mortality rates. Additionally, it shows that per capita kilocalorie supply, per capita GDP, per capita health expenditures, and urbanization are statistically significant for increasing life expectancy and decreasing mortality rates. The findings reveal that inflationary shocks severely affect food insecurity and environmental factors, exerting further pressure on contemporary life expectancy and mortality rates. In rebuttal, the institutional quality index is found to have significant effects on increasing and decreasing life expectancy and mortality rates, respectively. Furthermore, the institutional quality index is effective in moderating the nexus between food insecurity, environmental degradation, and health outcomes while also neutralizing the negative impact of inflationary shocks on the subject. CONCLUSION: The results verify triple health constraints such as food insecurity, environmental factors, and economic vulnerability to global shocks, which impose severe effects on life expectancy and mortality rates. Furthermore, poor institutional quality is identified as a hindrance to health outcomes in South Asia. The findings suggest specific policy implications that are explicitly discussed.

The health consequences of civil wars: evidence from Afghanistan.

This study examines the effects of long-run civil wars on healthcare, which is an important component of human capital development and their causality nexus in Afghanistan using the MVAR (modified vector autoregressive) approach and the Granger non-causality model covering data period 2002Q3-2020Q4. The primary results support a significant long-run relationship between variables, while the results of the MVAR model indicate the per capita cost of war, per capita GDP, and age dependency ratio have significantly positive impacts on per capita health expenditures, whereas child mortality rate and crude death rate have negative impacts. The results of the Granger non-causality approach demonstrate that there is a statistically significant bidirectional causality nexus between per capita health expenditure, per capita cost of war, per capita GDP, child mortality rate, crude death rate, and age dependency ratio, while it also supports the existence of strong and significant interconnectivity and multidimensionality between per capita cost of war and per capita health expenditure, with a significantly strong feedback response from the control variables. Important policy implications sourced from the key findings are also discussed.

Food insecurity and health outcome nexus: empirical evidence from the informal sector enterprises in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Food insecurity indicates the difficulty of constantly obtaining adequate food because of limited economic resources. Food insecurity challenges the desired health outcomes. Although extensive literature has examined the associations between food security and health, low-wage informal sector workers have been less frequently addressed in this topic. The present study has focused on food insecurity among the workers working in the informal sector enterprises who experienced entrenched disadvantage during COVID-19 and examines the relationship between food insecurity and health status as measured by self-reported physical and mental health conditions. METHODS: This study has utilized cross-sectional data collected from workers working in informal manufacturing and business enterprises in Dhaka city of Bangladesh. The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) with eight items is used to screen for food insecurity, and the Short Form 12v2 (SF12v2) scale with 12 questions, and validated for use with Bengali respondents, is used to measure the health status of the informal workers. A health production function has been constructed where the health status (both physical and mental) of workers is associated with food insecurity and other socio-economic and health care factors. Empirical analyses of the study have included descriptive statistics, mean score comparisons, and multivariate regression analyses to identify the predictive factors of the physical and mental health status of the workers. RESULTS: A moderate to severe food insecurity is found to be responsible for the poor health status (both physical and mental) of the selected working group population. Moreover, age over 40 years, having a large family, dissatisfaction with the work place, and the prevalence of occupational health risks are linked to lower physical health, while dissatisfaction with the work place and the incidence of severe diseases contribute to poor mental health status along with food insecurity. CONCLUSIONS: Extending social and economic protection towards health coverage and basic consumption is suggested as an immediate action to save lives and ensure productivity of the informal workers. Besides, an increase in income and ensuring decent working conditions are also recommended for the health, safety and satisfaction of workers working in informal sector enterprises.

A global perspective on the governance-health nexus.

BACKGROUND: This study raises two key arguments: First, government health expenditure (GHE) and per capita out-of-pocket expenditures on healthcare (OPEH) are sensitive to contemporary good governance practices, giving policy importance to the exogeneity of healthcare determinants, i.e., governance for health rather than health governance. Second, it is the income level of countries that reflects the volatility of the governance spillovers on the subject. METHODS: The present study constructs a composite governance index (CGI) and employs a set of panel data for 144 countries over the period from 2002 to 2020. To allow comparability and extract specific policy implications, the countries are classified as full, high-, middle-, and low-income panels. Meanwhile to delve into the short- and long-run effects of CGI on GHE and OPEH, the study employs the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) model. Further, to establish a causal link between the variables, it uses the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality technique. RESULTS: The results indicate that CGI is significantly cointegrated with GHE and OPEH in all recipient panels. It indicates that while CGI has significantly positive impacts on GHE and OPEH, its effects vary according to the income level of the underlying economies. The findings support the idea of governance for health and show that CGI drives the stabilization and enhancement of GHE and OPEH in the long run. Furthermore, the findings reveal that economic growth, the age dependency ratio, and tax revenue have positive effects, while the crude death rate and the child mortality rate exert negative impacts on the subject. Finally, the results highlight a unidirectional causality running from CGI to GHE and OPEH, while no feedback response is evident. CONCLUSIONS: Although an increase in GHE and OPEH is associated with the improvement of the population's healthcare, the results suggest the recognition of the importance and institutionalization of good governance to streamline this improvement through effective channelization, outreach, and social environment development for extensive health inclusion.

Individual preferences, government policy, and COVID-19: A game-theoretic epidemiological analysis.

Purpose: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic imposes serious short-term and long-term health costs on populations. Restrictive government policy measures decrease the risks of infection, but produce similarly serious social, mental health, and economic problems. Citizens have varying preferences about the desirability of restrictive policies, and governments are thus forced to navigate this tension in making pandemic policy. This paper analyses the situation facing government using a game-theoretic epidemiological model. Methodology: We classify individuals into health-centered individuals and freedom-centered individuals to capture the heterogeneous preferences of citizens. We first use the extended Susceptible-Exposed-Asymptomatic-Infectious-Recovered (SEAIR) model (adding individual preferences) and the signaling game model (adding government) to analyze the strategic situation against the backdrop of a realistic model of COVID-19 infection. Findings: We find the following: 1. There exists two pooling equilibria. When health-centered and freedom-centered individuals send anti-epidemic signals, the government will adopt strict restrictive policies under budget surplus or balance. When health-centered and freedom-centered individuals send freedom signals, the government chooses not to implement restrictive policies. 2. When governments choose not to impose restrictions, the extinction of an epidemic depends on whether it has a high infection transmission rate; when the government chooses to implement non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs), whether an epidemic will disappear depends on how strict the government's restrictions are. Originality/value: Based on the existing literature, we add individual preferences and put the government into the game as a player. Our research extends the current form of combining epidemiology and game theory. By using both we get a more realistic understanding of the spread of the virus and combine that with a richer understanding of the strategic social dynamics enabled by game theoretic analysis. Our findings have important implications for public management and government decision-making in the context of COVID-19 and for potential future public health emergencies.

The Role of Socio-economic and Female Indicators on Child Mortality Rate in Bangladesh: A Time Series Analysis.

This study aims to identify the role of socio-economic and female indicators on child mortality in Bangladesh from the data of 1975 - 2019. A number of econometric techniques of time series analysis like Augmented Dickey-Fuller, Autoregressive Distributive Lag bounds and pair-wise Granger causality tests have been applied to ascertain the desired outcomes. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller test has confirmed that neither series is integrated at level two and the Autoregressive Distributive Lag bounds testing approach has shown the cointegration and short-run and long-run relationship between the variables. Total fertility rate and urbanization have a positive effect, and female education, female life expectancy at birth, and economic growth rate have a negative effect on the child mortality rate. The pair-wise Granger causality test has shown the unidirectional and bidirectional causal relationship among the studied variables. All the outcomes are theoretically consistent and the policy recommendations are made based on findings.

Socio-economic factors affecting high infant and child mortality rates in selected African countries: does globalisation play any role?

BACKGROUND: Despite the declining trends worldwide, infant and child mortality rates are still high in many African countries. These high rates are problematic; therefore, this study attempts to explore the contributing factors that cause high infant and child mortality rates in 14 African countries using panel data for the period of 2000-2018. In particular, the role globalisation is explored. METHODS: The panel corrected standard error (PCSE), the Feasible generalized least square (FGLS) models, and the pair-wise Granger causality test have been applied as methodological approaches. RESULTS: The public health expenditure, numbers of physicians, globalization, economic development, education, good governance, and HIV prevalence rate have been revealed as the determinants of infant and child mortality in these countries. All these variables except the HIV prevalence rate negatively affect the infant and child mortality rates, while the HIV prevalence rate is found to be positive. Bidirectional and unidirectional causal relationships between the variables are also attained. CONCLUSIONS: Effective socio-economic policy priority with due consideration of globalization should be emphasized to reduce infant and child mortality rates in these countries.

Effects of globalization, energy consumption and ICT on health status in Australia: the role of financial development and education.

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of COVID-19 has alerted governments around the world, including Australia, to think seriously about the health issues. Life expectancy is one of such issues. Therefore, this study tries to reveal the effects of globalization, energy consumption, information and communication technology, financial development, education rate, and economic growth on life expectancy at birth in Australia. METHODS: Using the data period of 1990-2018, a series of econometric techniques: the Dickey-Fuller generalized least square test, Autoregressive Distributive Lag bounds test, fully modified ordinary least square method and the pairwise Granger causality test, are applied. RESULTS: The findings disclose that globalization, renewable energy use, information and communication technology, per capita gross domestic product, education rate, and financial development increased during this period but non-renewable energy use reduced life expectancy at birth. Unidirectional causal associations of the studied variables with life expectancy at birth are also revealed. CONCLUSIONS: All the outcomes are relevant and useful for articulating an innovative policy in the health sector. The prime policy implication of this work is: the effective, efficient, and inclusive policies considering globalization, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, information and communication technology, financial development, education rate, and economic growth should be formulated and executed for guaranteeing health status.

Socioeconomic inequalities in teenage pregnancy in Nigeria: evidence from Demographic Health Survey.

BACKGROUND: Despite the high rate of teenage pregnancy in Nigeria and host of negative medical, social and economic consequences that are associated with the problem, relatively few studies have examined socioeconomic inequality in teenage pregnancy. Understanding the key factors associated with socioeconomic inequality in teenage pregnancy is essential in designing effective policies for teenage pregnancy reduction. This study focuses on measuring inequality and identifying factors explaining socioeconomic inequality in teenage pregnancy in Nigeria. METHODS: This is a cross sectional study using individual recode (data) file from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey. The dataset comprises a representative sample of 8,423 women of reproductive age 15 - 19 years in Nigeria. The normalized Concentration index (Cn) was used to determine the magnitude of inequalities in teenage pregnancy. The Cn was decomposed to determine the contribution of explanatory factors to socioeconomic inequalities in teenage pregnancy in Nigeria. RESULTS: The negative value of the Cn (-0.354; 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.400 to -0.308) suggests that pregnancy is more concentrated among the poor teenagers. The decomposition analysis identified marital status, wealth index of households, exposure to information and communication technology, and religion as the most important predictors contributing to observed concentration of teenage pregnancy in Nigeria. CONCLUSION: There is a need for targeted intervention to reduce teenage pregnancy among low socioeconomic status women in Nigeria. The intervention should break the intergenerational cycle of low socioeconomic status that make teenagers' susceptible to unintended pregnancy. Economic empowerment is recommended, as empowered girls are better prepared to handle reproductive health issues. Moreover, religious bodies, parents and schools should provide counselling, and guidance that will promote positive reproductive and sexual health behaviours to teenagers.

Environmental kuznets curve and causal links between environmental degradation and selected socioeconomic indicators in Bangladesh.

This study has investigated the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis and focuses on the resource stock of the country in relation to the selection of environmental degradation indicators. Acknowledging the critical role of the EKC for policy formulation and development strategies, this study has examined the validity of the EKC hypothesis by exploring the relationship between economic growth, urbanization, energy consumption, trade openness, human capital and ecological footprints for the period 1972-2018 in Bangladesh. The autoregressive distributive lag bounds testing approach is applied for this purpose, taking into account the structural break in the time series. A fully modified OLS estimation has also been applied as the robustness check of the results. Results from the empirical analysis confirm the existence of the EKC in Bangladesh in both the long run and short run. The causal nexus among the variables is examined by applying the Vector Error Correction Granger causality test. The causality test result shows that economic growth and urbanization cause ecological footprints in both the short run and the long run. Based on this result, it can be inferred that economic growth activities in Bangladesh can be continued and extended with minimal ecological cost through structural economic change and proper environmental management.

Decomposition of socioeconomic inequalities in the uptake of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy in Nigeria: evidence from Demographic Health Survey.

BACKGROUND: Although malaria in pregnancy is preventable with the use of intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP), it still causes maternal morbidity and mortality, in sub-Saharan Africa and Nigeria in particular. Socioeconomic inequality leads to limited uptake of IPTp-SP by pregnant women and is, therefore, a public health challenge in Nigeria. This study aimed to measure and identify factors explaining socioeconomic inequality in the uptake of IPTp-SP in Nigeria. METHODS: The study re-analysed dataset of 12,294 women aged 15-49 years from 2018 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (DHS). The normalized concentration index (Cn) and concentration curve were used to quantify and graphically present socioeconomic inequalities in the uptake of IPTp-SP among pregnant women in Nigeria. The Cn was decomposed to identify key factors contributing to the observed socioeconomic inequality in the uptake of adequate (≥ 3) IPTp-SP. RESULTS: The study showed a higher concentration of the adequate uptake of IPTp-SP among socioeconomically advantaged women (Cn = 0.062; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.048 to 0.076) in Nigeria. There is a pro-rich inequality in the uptake of IPTp-SP in urban areas (Cn = 0.283; 95%CI 0.279 to 0.288). In contrast, a pro-poor inequality in the uptake of IPTp-SP was observed in rural areas (Cn = - 0.238; 95%CI - 0.242 to - 0.235). The result of the decomposition analysis indicated that geographic zone of residence and antenatal visits were the two main drivers for the concentration of the uptake of IPTp-SP among wealthier pregnant women in Nigeria. CONCLUSION: The pro-rich inequalities in the uptake of IPTp-SP among pregnant women in Nigeria, particularly in urban areas, warrant further attention. Strategies to improve the uptake of IPTp-SP among women residing in socioeconomically disadvantaged geographic zones (North-East and North-West) and improving antenatal visits among the poor women may reduce pro-rich inequality in the uptake of IPTp-SP among pregnant women in Nigeria.

The role of access to electricity, female education, and public health expenditure on female health outcomes: evidence from SAARC-ASEAN countries.

BACKGROUND: The importance of the status of female health should have research priority due to the unique medical needs of women. Hence this paper attempts to explore the nexus of access to electricity, female education, and public health expenditure with female health outcomes in the SAARC-ASEAN countries. METHODS: Using the data of 2002-2018, and applying the cross-sectional dependence test, Modified Wald test, Wooldridge test, the Panel corrected standard error (PCSE) model, the Feasible generalized least square (FGLS) model, and the pair-wise Granger causality test, the robust outcomes on female health are found. RESULTS: Access to electricity, female education rate, public health expenditure, economic growth, and immunization rate, all have a positive effect on female life expectancy at birth, and a negative effect on the female adult mortality rate. The urbanization rate has a significantly positive impact on female life expectancy at birth but an insignificant impact on female adult mortality rate. The one-way causal relationship between the variables are also revealed. CONCLUSIONS: All the results are rational and have important milestone for the health sector. The health status of females should be improved and protected by formulating effective policies on access to electricity, female education, public health expenditure, immunization, economic growth, and urbanization.

The nexus between health status and health expenditure, energy consumption and environmental pollution: empirical evidence from SAARC-BIMSTEC regions.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for the betterment of health status, while also considering health expenditure, energy, and environmental issues. This paper examines the nexus between health status and health expenditure (both public and private), energy consumption and environmental pollution in the SAARC-BIMSTEC region. METHODS: We utilized the panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, the heterogeneous panel causality test, the cross sectional dependence test, the cointegration test and the Pesaran cross sectional dependent (CADF) unit root test for obtaining estimated results from data over 16 years (2002-2017). RESULTS: Our results authorize the cointegration among the variables used, where the coefficients of energy consumption, public and private health expenditures, and economic growth are 0.027, 0.014, 0.030, and 0.029, respectively, and indicating positive and statistically significant effects. The coefficient of environmental pollution is - 0.085, implying significant negative effect on the health status of these regions in the long-run. However, no panel wise significant impact is found in the short-run. Bidirectional and unidirectional causal links between the studied variables and the health status are also identified.. CONCLUSIONS: The improved health status in the SAARC-BIMSTEC region needs to be protected by articulating the effective policies. The attained results are theoretically and empirically consistent, and have important policy implications in the health sector.

Is industrial pollution detrimental to public health? Evidence from the world's most industrialised countries.

BACKGROUND: Industrial pollution is considered to be a detrimental factor for human health. This study, therefore, explores the link between health status and industrial pollution for the top 20 industrialised countries of the world. METHODS: Crude death rate is used to represent health status and CO2 emissions from manufacturing industries and construction, and nitrous oxide emissions are considered to be indicators of industrial pollution. Using annual data of 60 years (1960-2019), an unbalanced panel data estimation method is followed where (Driscoll, J. C. et al. Rev Econ Stat, 80, 549-560, 1998) standard error technique is employed to deal with heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation and cross-sectional dependence problems. RESULTS: The research findings indicate that industrial pollution arising from both variables has a detrimental impact on human health and significantly increases the death rate, while an increase in economic growth, number of physicians, urbanisation, sanitation facilities and schooling decreases the death rate. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, minimisation of industrial pollution should be the topmost policy agenda in these countries. All the findings are consistent theoretically, and have empirical implications as well. The policy implication of this study is that the mitigation of industrial pollution, considering other pertinent factors, should be addressed appropriately by enunciating effective policies to reduce the human death rate and improve health status in the studied panel countries.

Geographical and socioeconomic inequalities in the utilization of maternal healthcare services in Nigeria: 2003-2017.

BACKGROUND: Maternal mortality has remained a challenge in many low-income countries, especially in Africa and in Nigeria in particular. This study examines the geographical and socioeconomic inequalities in maternal healthcare utilization in Nigeria over the period between 2003 and 2017. METHODS: The study used four rounds of Nigeria Demographic Health Surveys (DHS, 2003, 2008, 2013, and 2018) for women aged 15-49 years old. The rate ratios and differences (RR and RD) were used to measure differences between urban and rural areas in terms of the utilization of the three maternal healthcare services including antenatal care (ANC), facility-based delivery (FBD), and skilled-birth attendance (SBA). The Theil index (T), between-group variance (BGV) were used to measure relative and absolute inequalities in the utilization of maternal healthcare across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The relative and absolute concentration index (RC and AC) were used to measure education-and wealth-related inequalities in the utilization of maternal healthcare services. RESULTS: The RD shows that the gap in the utilization of FBD between urban and rural areas significantly increased by 0.3% per year over the study period. The Theil index suggests a decline in relative inequalities in ANC and FBD across the six geopolitical zones by 7, and 1.8% per year, respectively. The BGV results do not suggest any changes in absolute inequalities in ANC, FBD, and SBA utilization across the geopolitical zones over time. The results of the RC and the AC suggest a persistently higher concentration of maternal healthcare use among well-educated and wealthier mothers in Nigeria over the study period. CONCLUSION: We found that the utilization of maternal healthcare is lower among poorer and less-educated women, as well as those living in rural areas and North West and North East geopolitical zones. Thus, the focus should be on implementing strategies that increase the uptake of maternal healthcare services among these groups.

Environmental degradation: The role of electricity consumption, economic growth and globalisation.

This paper examines the effects of electricity consumption, economic growth and globalisation on the CO2 emissions of top 10 electricity consuming countries. Taking annual data from 1971 to 2013, a panel cointegration approach is adopted where Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) methods are used to examine the long-run effects. Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test is used to explore the directions of causality between the variables of interest. The empirical results reveal that there is a long-term association among these variables; and electricity consumption and economic growth positively and significantly affect the CO2 emissions in these countries. In contrast, globalisation has significant negative impact on the CO2 emissions implying the improvement of environmental quality. The findings also confirm the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, the bidirectional causalities between economic growth and CO2 emissions, between electricity consumption and CO2 emissions, and between globalisation and economic growth in the sample countries. A unidirectional causality from economic growth to electricity consumption, from electricity consumption to globalisation and from globalisation to CO2 emissions is also found. Policy guidelines are suggested in line of the findings.

Health care expenditure and health outcome nexus: new evidence from the SAARC-ASEAN region.

BACKGROUND: The total health expenditure (as a percentage of GDP) and health outcomes in the region of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Association for South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are lower than that of the OECD region and the world. This study investigated the relationship between different types of healthcare expenditures (public, private and total) and three main health status outcomes - life expectancy at birth, crude death rate and infant mortality rate - in the region. METHODOLOGY: Using the World Bank data set for 15 countries over a 20-year period (1995-2014), a panel data analysis was conducted where relevant fixed and random effect models were estimated to determine the effects of healthcare expenditure on health outcomes. The main variables studied were total health expenditure, public health expenditure, private health expenditure, GDP per capita, improved sanitation, life expectancy at birth, crude death rate and infant mortality rate. RESULTS: Total health expenditure, public health expenditure and private health expenditure significantly reduced infant mortality rates, and, the extent of effect of private health expenditure was greater than that of public health expenditure. Private health expenditure also had a significant role in reducing the crude death rate. Per capita income growth and improved sanitation facilities also had significant positive roles in improving population health in the region. CONCLUSIONS: Health expenditure in the SAARC-ASEAN region should be increased as our results indicated that it improved the health status of the population in the region. Public sector health funds must be appropriately and efficiently used, and accountability and transparency regarding spending of public health funds should be ensured. Finally, government and private institutes should implement appropriate strategies to improve sanitation facilities.

Renewable energy and ecological footprint nexus: Evidence from dynamic panel threshold technique.

The escalating phenomenon of environmental degradation is an urgent global concern, imperiling ecosystems and hindering the prospects for sustainable development on a planetary scale. Therefore, this study aims to explore the intricate interplay between renewable energy (RE) and ecological footprint (EF), considering the conditional impact of fiscal capacity (FIC), human development (HDI), institutional quality (IQI), and population density (PDN). Drawing on panel data encompassing 74 developing countries from 2000 to 2022, the study employs a dynamic panel threshold regression method, both with and without an instrumental variable approach. The findings unveil a non-linear nexus between RE and EF, revealing significant threshold values for FIC (1.870), HDI (0.736), and IQI (0.311), above which RE showcases its efficacy in mitigating EF. Conversely, when these predictors dip below the thresholds of FIC (1.391), HDI (0.655), and IQI (0.2545), the impact of RE on FE becomes insignificant. Moreover, the study introduces PDN as an additional threshold variable in the analysis, pinpointing that the effectiveness of RE in reducing EF hinges on PDN being below a threshold value of 263.144; however, above a threshold value of 276.98, the influence of PDN on the RE-FE nexus diminishes. The findings underscore the complexity of policy landscapes in developing countries. They suggest that while promoting renewable energy is pivotal for environmental sustainability, it is equally imperative to bolster existing environmentally friendly fiscal capacity, advance human capital, enhance institutional quality, and craft effective population distribution policies.

Unveiling the health consequences of air pollution in the world's most polluted nations.

Air pollution poses a persuasive threat to global health, demonstrating widespread detrimental effects on populations worldwide. Exposure to pollutants, notably particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 µm (PM2.5), has been unequivocally linked to a spectrum of adverse health outcomes. A nuanced understanding of the relationship between them is crucial for implementing effective policies. This study employs a comprehensive investigation, utilizing the extended health production function framework alongside the system generalized method of moments (SGMM) technique, to scrutinize the interplay between air pollution and health outcomes. Focusing on a panel of the top twenty polluted nations from 2000 to 2021, the findings yield substantial insights. Notably, PM2.5 concentration emerges as a significant factor, correlating with a reduction in life expectancy by 3.69 years and an increase in infant mortality rates by 0.294%. Urbanization is found to increase life expectancy by 0.083 years while concurrently decreasing infant mortality rates by 0.00022%. An increase in real per capita gross domestic product corresponds with an improvement in life expectancy by 0.21 years and a decrease in infant mortality rates by 0.00065%. Similarly, an elevated school enrollment rate is associated with a rise in life expectancy by 0.17 years and a decline in infant mortality rates by 0.00032%. However, a higher population growth rate is found to modestly decrease life expectancy by 0.019 years and slightly elevate infant mortality rates by 0.000016%. The analysis reveals that per capita greenhouse gas emissions exert a negative impact, diminishing life expectancy by 0.486 years and elevating infant mortality rates by 0.00061%, while per capita energy consumption marginally reduces life expectancy by 0.026 years and increases infant mortality rates by 0.00004%. Additionally, economic volatility shock presents a notable decrement in life expectancy by 0.041 years and an increase in infant mortality rates by 0.000045%, with inflationary shock further exacerbating adverse health outcomes by lowering life expectancy by 0.70 years and elevating infant mortality rates by 0.00025%. Moreover, the study scrutinizes the role of institutional quality, revealing a constructive impact on health outcomes. Specifically, the institutional quality index is associated with an increase in life expectancy by 0.66% and a decrease in infant mortality rates by 0.0006%. Extending the analysis to examine the nuanced dimensions of institutional quality, the findings discern that economic institutions wield a notably stronger positive influence on health outcomes compared to political and institutional governance indices. Finally, the results underscore the pivotal moderating role of institutional quality in mitigating the deleterious impact of PM2.5 concentration on health outcomes, counterbalancing the influence of external shocks, and improving the relationships between explanatory variables and health outcome indicators. These findings offer critical insights for guiding evidence-based policy implications, with a focus on fostering resilient, sustainable, and health-conscious societies.

The validity of the environmental Kuznets curve in the presence of long-run civil wars: A case of Afghanistan.

The war in Afghanistan left significantly negative consequences in all spheres of its society, leading the country to the highest levels of poverty, hunger, and environmental damage. This study explores the long-run impact of civil wars on environmental degradation in Afghanistan using the conceptual framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve and models augmented with pollutants, civil wars, comprehensive financial development index, and macroeconomic predictors on a set of data from the first quarter of 2002 to the first quarter of 2020. However, while the results confirm long-run relationships amid indicators by the autoregressive distributed lags bound test, the results of the vector error-correcting model to Granger causality reveal bidirectional causality links between CO2 emissions, per capita real GDP, civil wars, the financial development index, energy consumption, trade openness, and the inflation rate in the long-run, while the findings extend to confirm multidimensionality and interdependencies among predictors in the short-run. Moreover, the results indicate dual findings. First, it confirms that civil wars, the financial development index, per capita real gross domestic product, population growth, and the inflation rate significantly increase CO2 emissions, while the squared per capita real gross domestic product, energy consumption, and trade openness reduce CO2 emissions both in the short and long runs. Second, the results confirm an inverted U-shaped relationship, supporting the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in Afghanistan. Based on the findings, appropriate policy measures are recommended.