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Purpose: This study aims to shed light on the experience of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in balancing three main pillars: the environmental criteria, the reduction of CO2 emissions and the economic growth. Based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework, it will assess the causal relationship between economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, trade openness and energy use and environmental indicators such as CO2 emissions. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis relies on a period of 40 years (1981–2020) where data is extracted from the World Bank database. This study uses the unit root test for time series stationarity, the optimal lag length test, the "Johansen" test for co-integration and the vector error correction model. Findings: The paper concludes to two major findings. On a short-term basis, CO2 emissions and economic indicators are negatively correlated, whereas on a long-term basis, there is no association between CO2 emissions and economic indicators in the UAE. Research limitations/implications: The research ends with important recommendations. It illustrates the importance of rationalizing the use of primary resources and the necessity to embrace successful and efficient policies in the energy production. Practical implications: More specifically, UAE is urged to address the problem of CO2 emissions in the electricity sector and increase awareness of the use of environmentally friendly processes in the transport and industrial sectors. While setting their economic agendas, UAE are encouraged to meet environmental criteria and invest in renewable energy projects such as "Shams 1", the largest solar power plant outside of Spain and the USA. Originality/value: The current study is significant in its research on the environmental impact of economic development, trade openness and energy use policies in the UAE. It uses CO2 emissions as an environmental proxy and evaluates the environmental policies adopted in the UAE to reduce its impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this paper, the heterogeneity of the linkages among financial development, productivity and growth across income groups is emphasized. Design/methodology/approach: An empirical analysis is conducted with an illustrative sample of 130 economies over the period 1991–2019 and classified into four subsamples: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), developing, least developed and net food importing developing countries. Forecast error variance decompositions and panel vector auto-regressive estimations are computed, with insightful findings. Findings: Higher levels of output stimulate the economic development in the agricultural sector, mainly via the productivity channel and, in the most developed economies, also through access to credit. Differently, in developing and least developed economies, the role of access to credit is marginal. The findings have practical implications for stakeholders involved in the planning of long-run investments. In less developed economies, priorities should be given to investments in technology and innovation, whereas financial markets are more suited to boost the development of the agricultural sector of developed economies. Originality/value: The authors conclude on the credit–output–productivity nexus and contribute to the literature in (at least) three ways. First, they assess how credit access, agricultural output and agricultural productivity are jointly determined. Second, they use a novel approach, which departs from most of the case studies based on single-country data. Third, they conclude on potential causality links to conclude on policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the contribution of the Islamic banking and financial institutions (IBFIs) to economic growth in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – Focusing on the post-1997 economic turmoil, the paper relies on several time series tests, such as autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), vector error correction model (VECM) and variance decompositions (VDCs). Findings – The paper documents significant role played by the IBFIs in Malaysian economy. In particular, significant unidirectional causality was found from the IBFIs development to economic growth, supporting the finance-growth led hypothesis or the supply-leading view. Research limitations/implications – The paper only focuses its analysis on the role of the IBFIs in the Malaysian economy and not the financial sector as a whole. Thus, the findings of this paper are indicative, but inconclusive for the entire financial sector in the country. Practical implications – Continuous efforts should be undertaken to promote the development of the Islamic banking industry due to its significant contribution to Malaysia’s economic growth by further improving the Islamic financial infrastructure, increasing the pool of human capital in the Islamic banking industry, providing conducive legal environment to the IBFIs and maintaining the Islamic financial sector stability. Originality/value – This paper is the first attempt to empirically assess the contribution of Islamic banking institutions in Malaysia using ARDL, VECM and VDCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The threshold regression framework is used to examine the effect of foreign direct investment on growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The growth literature is awash with divergent evidence on the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth. Although the FDI–growth nexus has been studied in diverse ways, very few studies have examined the relationship within the framework of threshold analysis. Furthermore, even where this framework has been adopted, none of the previous studies has comprehensively examined the FDI–growth nexus in the broader SSA. In this paper, within the standard panel and threshold regression framework, the problem of determining the growth impact of FDI is revisited. Design/methodology/approach: Six variables are used as thresholds – inflation, initial income, population growth, trade openness, financial market development and human capital, and the analysis is based on a large panel data set that comprises 45 SSA countries for the years 1985–2013. Findings: The results of this study show that the direct impact of FDI on growth is largely ambiguous and inconsistent. However, under the threshold analysis, it is evident that FDI accelerates economic growth when SSA countries have achieved certain threshold levels of inflation, population growth and financial markets development. This evidence is largely invariant qualitatively and is robust to different empirical specifications. FDI enhances growth in SSA when inflation and private sector credit are below their threshold levels while human capital and population growth are above their threshold levels. Originality/value: The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, the paper streamlines the threshold analysis of FDI–growth nexus to focus on countries in SSA – previous studies on FDI-growth nexus in SSA are country-specific and time series–based (see Tshepo, 2014; Raheem and Oyınlola, 2013 and Bende-Nabende, 2002). This paper provides a panel analysis and considers a broader set of up to 45 SSA countries. Such a broad set of SSA countries had never been considered in the literature. Second, the paper expands on available threshold variables to include two new important macroeconomic variables, population growth and inflation which, though are important absorptive capacities but, until now, had not been used as thresholds in the FDI–growth literature. The rationale for including these variables as thresholds stems from the evidence of an empirical relationship between population growth and economic growth, see Darrat and Al-Yousif (1999), and between inflation and economic growth, see Kremer et al. (2013). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]