Do Multi-Market Institutions and Renewable Energy Matter for Sustainable Development: A Panel Data Investigation.

This paper measures the impact of multi-market institutions, renewable energy consumption, and infrastructure on sustainable development in 76 selected countries over the period 2000-2015. To this end, we applied a dynamic Ordinary Least Square method with fixed effects, which has the advantage of further addressing cross-section heterogeneity in the sample. Our findings contribute two significant findings to the literature. First, we point to the importance of multi-market institutions in driving sustainable development. Second, we find that renewable energy, economic and social infrastructure can boost sustainable development, while financial infrastructure has a reverse effect. This finding is useful to target the most effective drivers for sustainable development.

Effects of structurally different noncoplanar and coplanar PCBs on HELF cell proliferation, cell cycle, and potential molecular mechanisms.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of chemicals that persist in the environment, indoors, and humans. Lung exposure to airborne and food contaminants, such as PCBs, may cause possible lung disorders, such as cancer. In the present study, we investigated the effects of structurally different lower chlorinated (≤4Cl), noncoplanar PCB40, and coplanar PCB77 on human lung fibroblast cell line (HELF) cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, and possible molecular mechanisms. Noncoplanar PCB40 and coplanar PCB77 exhibited concentration- and time-dependent biphasic dose-response effects on HELF cell proliferation. Noncoplanar PCB40 and coplanar PCB77 induced 23 and 45% cytotoxicity at higher concentrations than the control. The flow cytometry analysis showed that exposure to PCB40 caused a significant increase in time spent in the G1 phase but decreased length of the S phase in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, whereas PCB77 exposure decreased time spent in the G1 and S phases but increased time spent in the G2 phase. Western blot analysis indicated that PCB77 increased the expression of cyclin E, CDK2, p21, and caspase-9, while PCB40 decreased the expression of these proteins (except CDK2 and p21). An increase in CDK expression after exposure to PCB77 suggests that it may cause carcinogenic effects on HELF cells at higher doses. Our results also demonstrate that the different cytotoxic effects induced by coplanar and nonplanar PCBs were correlated with their structural characteristics; the coplanar congener was more cytotoxic than the nonplanar congener. The study elaborates threshold levels for these chemicals and suggests that the cytotoxicity mechanisms by which PCB congeners act on HELF cells depend on their planarity and chemical structures. Furthermore, the study will be important for developing antidotes to the adverse effects and risk assessment practices for PCBs. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 32: 1183-1190, 2017.

Economic growth, CO2 emissions, renewable waste and FDI relation in Pakistan: New evidences from 3SLS.

First attempt has been made to find the effects of foreign direct investment on environmental pollution and economic growth, in addition to finding the determinants of foreign direct investment inflows in Pakistan using the annual data set for the period of 1980-2014. Simultaneous equation model has been used to find relation between the variables of concern. Results from technique and composition effects show that increase in economic growth leads towards more pollution emissions. Scale effect shows stock of capital and labor have positive effect on the economic growth of Pakistan while pollution has negative effect on growth. In case of capital accumulation effect, economic growth and foreign direct investment have positive and significant effect on stock of capital. Although increase in economic growth increases pollution, however, economic growth declines as pollution crosses a certain limit. Foreign direct investment is also found positively related with pollution.

Exploring the nexus between tourism development and environmental quality: Role of Renewable energy consumption and Income.

Tourism appears as a catalyst for growth and development; however, recent studies have documented that this sector heavily depends on energy sector and as a consequence, entire tourism industry has been blamed for CO2 emissions. This study aims to investigate the impact of tourism develop, renewable energy and real GDP on CO2 emissions for G20 economies during the period of 1995-2015. In the presence of panel unit root, Pedroni and Kao methods confirm long-run cointegration among variables. FMOLS results show that a 1% increase in tourism development decreases pollution emissions by 0.05% in long run. The results show that the increase in renewable energy consumption reduces pollution emissions. A 1% increases in renewable energy reduces pollution emissions by 0.15% in long run. There was an inverted U-shaped relation between pollution and real GDP in long run confirming the validity of environmental Kuznets curve. Paper concludes that tourism development can be driving force for CO2 emissions reduction.

Quantile nexus between human development, energy production, and economic growth: the role of corruption in the case of Pakistan.

This paper examines the quantile cointegration relation between human development, energy production, and economic growth by incorporating corruption into the model for Pakistan through Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lag (QARDL) model covering the period from 1965 to 2016. The research findings indicate that the association is quantile dependent which provides some exciting results. The Wald test is applied that rejects the null hypothesis and confirms the short- and long-run relationship between the variables. The changes in human development and economic growth are responsible for past and current changes in energy production and corruption that is confirmed through the Error Correction Model (ECM). This paper provides some interesting findings that energy production is contributing positively to human development. Further, energy production contributes negatively to economic growth, while corruption contributes positively to economic growth. These findings will help to make policy measures such as environmental regulation to improve energy efficiency and anti-corruption policies which will improve income level and economic growth of Pakistan economy.

Climate change-induced human conflicts and economic costs in Pakistani Punjab.

Understanding causes of interpersonal conflicts, related costs, and the effects on investment in agriculture are important concerns of social sciences. The present study was designed to explore these aspects in relation to climate change, since rising temperature and precipitation are considered crucial causal factors in fueling interpersonal conflicts. The study used cross-sectional data collected from rural farm households from a large district of Pakistani Punjab. Cost of conflicts was estimated using standard economic methods whereas factors affecting interpersonal conflicts were estimated through employing logit model. The study found that interpersonal conflicts cost US$135 per month for following the proceedings of the conflicts filed in the court. Households involved in conflicts spent significantly very few resources in purchasing farm inputs which in turn declined productivity of maize (28%) and sugarcane (19%). Warm temperature, precipitation, and windstorm were perceived by households as causal factors for interpersonal conflicts. Socioeconomic characteristics namely, farm size, livestock, family size, and high monthly income of household, were significantly associated with interpersonal conflicts. The study concludes important policy implications.

Dengue fever in Punjab, Pakistan: Knowledge, perception and adaptation among urban adults.

Climate change and weather variations are strongly associated with the incidence of dengue fever, outbreak risk in Pakistan and other developing countries. Knowledge and adaptation measures can affect the incidence and outbreak risk of dengue fever. The present study attempted to determine the knowledge, perception and adaptation to dengue fever by the respondents in Faisalabad, Pakistan employing cross-sectional data. The respondents who suffered and those that did not suffer from dengue fever have reported that electronic and print media were important sources of awareness about dengue fever. Around 59% respondents who did not suffer from dengue fever reported knowledge of being affected by dengue fever and 67% did not perceive that the symptoms of dengue fever would appear after mosquito biting. Logit model was employed to examine the factors affecting the adaptation measures to reduce the incidence of dengue fever. Education, family size, adults, income and perception were significantly related adaptation to dengue fever. The respondents that suffered from dengue fever were highly probable to use the adaptation measures compared to the respondents that did not suffer from dengue fever. Findings of the study might be helpful for the public health authorities to devise policies on improving awareness of dengue fever among the masses and sensitizing population to use adaptation measures.