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Nutrition is a key input in the health production function, and a better understanding of how we eat can aid in guiding effective policy change towards better population health. This study documents prevalence rates, trends in, and potential correlates of nutrient intake for panels of countries, categorized by geographical regions and levels of development. We assemble data from 209 countries, spanning 51 years (1961–2011), based on original data compilations using 960 country-years for BMI, 370 country-years for glucose, and 321 country-years for cholesterol. Our estimates inform the nature and scope of nutrient intake on a global scale, and contribute towards an understanding of the drivers of the general upward trend in food intake and obesity. The cross-national trends, across countries spanning the spectrum of economic development and geographic regions, suggest that simply analyzing aggregate caloric intake masks the heterogeneity in trends for the various food groups. Food groups analyzed include cereals, sugars and sweeteners, vegetable oils, meat, starch, milk, fruits, animal fats, alcoholic beverages, oil crops, pulses, vegetables, fish, and eggs. Fixed effects regression analyses reveal that caloric intake is strongly associated with hunger depth, body mass index, cholesterol levels, and glucose levels. Moreover, changes in real GDP per capita, labor force participation, and health care inputs in a nation can partly explain the increase in caloric intake. We note that substantial heterogeneity remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Not all foreign direct investment (FDI) is alike as far as its impact on various dimensions of human development is concerned. This paper focuses, in particular, on child labor and it undertakes a cross-country empirical analysis of this issue, using data on 100 countries spanning the period 1990–2009. Unlike earlier studies that focus mostly on total FDI, we also utilize data on disaggregated FDI, covering the main economic sectors of interest such as agriculture, mining, manufacturing, services, and finance. The empirical results suggest that different economic sectors generate varied effects on child labor. For instance, FDI in agriculture in Europe and Central Asia tends to exacerbate child labor, whereas FDI in manufacturing in South and East Asia and FDI in mining in Latin America appear negatively linked to child labor. Furthermore, signing on to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is positively associated with child labor. One possible explanation for the latter result is that stronger anti-child labor laws could lead to multiple equilibria in labor markets, including the possibility of increasing child labor in certain sectors. Selected case studies help clarify the possible reasons behind this varied FDI impact on child labor, emphasizing among other factors supply chain management and the critical importance of policy implementation and coordination with the private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the impact of inventions, measured by the number of new patents, on economic growth. Specifically, we focus on patents in the ICT sector for a global sample of 43 economies, comprising 26 advanced and 17 emerging market economies in the period 1998 to 2016. We use a two-step system GMM to control for potential endogeneity in the data. Our results are threefold. First, total patents have mutually causal effects with economic growth, but there is no evidence of an impact of total patents on manufacturing sector growth. At the same time, ICT patents have a unidirectional causal impact on both, overall economic growth, and the growth of services and manufacturing. Second , the impact of total patents on economic growth is stronger in advanced economies. At the same time, ICT patents have a positive significant impact on the growth of advanced economies and a negative significant effect on the growth of emerging economies. Third , in the long-run, ICT patents have a positive significant impact on economic growth, while total patents do not. • The influences of ICTs patents on economic growth. • A global sample of 26 advanced and 17 emerging economies from 1998 to 2016. • ICTs patents have unidirectional causal impacts on economic growth. • The effects of ICTs patents are dominant in advanced economies. • ICTs patents have long-run positive growth impacts while total patents are not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We study the impact of Greenfield foreign direct investment (GFDI) expansion of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on their innovation activity, proxied by the internal generation of patents. • By combining three databases: orbis by bureau van Dijk, FDIMarkets by financial Times, and PATSTAT by the European patent Office, we obtain a sample of more than 20,000 firms for the period 2008–2015. • The MNE firms originate in 175 countries the full spectrum of the industrial distribution. • We find that both capital investment and jobs created through GFDI boost the innovation activity of MNEs and these effects are bigger for industries with higher patent intensities, such as the production of chemicals, computers, and motor vehicles. • For sectors that rely less on patents (oil and electricity sectors) the impact of GFDI on patenting activity is smaller. We study the impact of outward greenfield foreign direct investment (OGFDI) expansion of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on their innovation activity, proxied by the internal generation of patents. By combining three databases: Orbis by Bureau van Dijk, FDIMarkets by Financial Times, and PATSTAT by The European Patent Office, we obtain a sample of more than 20,000 firms for the period 2008–2015. The MNE firms originate in 175 countries, which span the entire spectrum of economic development- from low to high-income countries. The industrial distribution of the firms covers 72 industries at the 2-digit ISIC level. We construct a model, which allows us to analyze the impact of OGFDI capital investment, as well as OGFDI-created employment, on the number of patents of the companies engaging in the GFDI. We control for various firm characteristics, such as performance measures and size of the corporate group. We also control for the country of origin of the firms, stratifying the sample into emerging market MNEs and developed countries MNEs. We use linear estimation techniques to analyze the relationship between the variables and test how the results change across industries with different patent intensities. We find that both capital investment and jobs created through OGFDI boost the innovation activity of MNEs, and these effects are bigger for industries with higher patent intensities, such as the production of chemicals, computers, and motor vehicles. For sectors that rely less on patents (oil and electricity sectors) the impact of GFDI on patenting activity is smaller and for the case of building constructions, we even find a negative impact of investments on innovation. We further find that the effects are larger for EMNEs than DMNEs and discuss appropriate policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of non-renewable and renewable energy consumption on economic growth, differentiating between manufacturing and services growth. We derive our empirical model from an endogenous growth framework with expanding variety of intermediate capital goods embedding non-renewable and renewable energy inputs. Controlling for well-established growth determinants, we estimate the effects of non-renewable and renewable energy consumption, differentiated by type of use — industrial, residential, and total final energy consumption — on manufacturing and services growth. We find that renewable energy enhances growth in high-growth sectors, i.e. the services sector in high-income economies and the manufacturing sector in middle-income economies. In the case of high-income countries, renewable energy is a complement to non-renewables, whereas in the case of middle-income countries the two are substitutes. The growth effects are primarily due to industrial energy consumption. T Based on our findings, we propose that an effective renewable energy incentives policy for middle-income countries should be directed at manufacturing enterprises, and in high-income countries these incentives should be directed at the services sector. • Endogenous growth framework with expanding variety of intermediate goods for energy consumption. • We test the effects renewables and non-renewables on the growth of manufacturing and services. • Renewable energy enhances growth in high-growth sectors. • These sectors are services in high-income and manufacturing in middle-income economies. • The growth effects are due to industrial energy and not to residential energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify the impact of fish output on the marine fish trade balance, as well as foreign investment opportunities in six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries over the period of 1985–2016. We applied several panel estimation techniques, including fixed effects (FE), generalized method of moments (GMM), instrumental variable-fixed effect (IV-FE), and panel ARDL.FE model estimates show that marine fish production has a positive and significant effect on the marine trade balance, with a 1% increase in fish production leading to a more than 1%increase in the trade balance. Estimates of system GMM and IV-FE methods, which allow for the controlling of endogeneity, suggest an even larger effect. When we consider the relationship with foreign direct investment (FDI), FE, GMM and IV-FE show no significant effects. However, the ARDL model shows a statistically significant long-term relationship between fish production and both trade balance and inward foreign direct investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy consumption and economic growth play an important role in the global policy debate among policymakers around the world. This is the first study to investigate the relationship between economic growth and energy consumption at the state level for the U.S. from 2000 to 2016. As opposed to country-level studies, a focus on states within a country allows for comparisons across more homogeneous entities. The four known hypotheses are tested: growth, conservative, feedback, and neutral, differentiating between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption. In order to address endogeneity, two strategies are developed: (1) a static analysis for 2016 where key policy covariates are gradually added to the model, and (2) a dynamic analysis using different generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators. The model is augmented using socioeconomic, regulatory and climatic variables, which allows for the evaluation of policies while facilitating a transition to renewable energy use. Overall, the results show that total energy consumption and non-renewable energy consumption support the feedback hypothesis. Results for renewable energy, industrial energy, and residential energy consumption show more support for the growth hypothesis. These results have policy implications in terms of optimizing decisions and investments to efficiently improve economic growth while reducing energy consumption. • This study explores the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. • Static and dynamic models are run for the years 2000–2016 for the U.S. states. • Renewable, nonrenewable, industrial, and residential energy are analyzed separately. • Total and non-renewable energy consumption support the feedback hypothesis. • Renewable energy consumption supports the growth hypothesis at the state level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]