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The aim of this paper is to investigate the nexus between natural resources, gross capital formation, globalization, and economic growth in the developing countries from European, Asian, African, and American continents. It adopted the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) approach to test this relationship for the period from 1980 to 2018. Results suggest that natural resources and globalization have a positive impact on economic growth in European, Asian, and American countries, while capital formation negatively affects growth. In African countries, the effect of globalization and gross capital formation is positive, but natural resources have a negative impact on GDP. Evidence from all continents illustrate that there is bidirectional causality between globalization and economic growth. Also, there is bidirectional causality detected between capital formation and growth in Europe and Asia and between natural resources and growth in Asia and America, while there is unidirectional causality from GDP to natural resources in Europe, from capital formation to GDP in Africa and America, from GDP to natural resources in Europe, and from natural resources to GDP in America. Based on these results, it can be said that new growth models can no longer be independent of natural resource rents and globalization., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.)

This study examines the association between air pollution and economic growth based on the idea of environment Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis which suggests an inverted U-shaped link between air pollution and economic growth in six different regions including Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa over the period 2000 to 2018. This regional classification is done to investigate the regional differences of the EKC relationship for carbon emissions. Models based on panel data econometric models are employed to obtain empirical results. Random effect and fixed effect models are used in the present study. A multivariate framework is used in which carbon dioxide emission, per capita gross domestic product, trade openness, foreign direct investment, primary school enrollment, financial development indicator, and institutional quality that is measured by six indicators are included. The result is that the EKC hypothesis is supported in all the abovementioned regions except in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Thus, the hypothesis that different regions have dissimilar EKC relationships is supported through the results of this research study.

This study explored the long-run association among greenhouse gases (GHGs), financial development, forest area, improved sanitation, renewable energy, urbanization, and trade in 24 lower middle-income countries from Asia, Europe, Africa, and America (South and North) by using panel data from 1990 to 2015. Granger causality was tested by Toda and Yamamoto approach. The bi-directional causality was established among urbanization and GHGs (Asia), financial development and forest (Asia), energy use and renewable energy (Asia), renewable energy and forest (Asia), improved sanitation and forest (Asia, Africa, America), urbanization and forest (Asia), and improved sanitation and financial development (Europe). The GHG emission also shows one-way causality is running from financial development to GHG (America), energy to GHG (Asia), renewable energy to GHG (America), forest area to GHG (America), trade openness to GHG (Africa), urbanization to GHG (Europe), GHG to financial development (Europe), GHG to energy use (Europe, Africa, and America), and GHG to trade openness (Asia). On the basis of fully modified ordinary least square and generalized method of moment, the reciprocal relationship of GHGs was observed due to financial development in Asia and Africa; renewable energy in all panels; forest area in Asia, Europe, and America; improved sanitation in Asia, Africa, and America; trade openness in Africa; and urbanization in Europe and America. Policymakers should concentrate on these variables for the reduction in GHGs. The annual convergence towards long-run equilibrium was 50.5, 31.9, and 20.9% for America, Asia, and Africa, respectively.

The endeavor to implement the 2030 Agenda of national and international stakeholders became increasingly impetuous, considering the wide range of uncertainties and risks. The new humans-centered development model built on the prominence of environmental and social values seeks to reinforce communities' resilience and mitigate environmental risks, leaving no one behind. For this to happen, solid and effective institutions, the right environmental policies, and a safe statutory labor framework are the sine qua non. In this study, we evaluated the effects of informality, institutional quality, and renewable energy consumption on ecological footprint of two groups of emerging countries from Europe and Asia from 2002 to 2018. Our results by PMG-ARDL approach highlight dissimilarities between the two groups, showing greater heterogeneity. In this sense, informality is found to have positive and significant effects on ecological footprint in the long run in emerging European countries. In contrast, the effect is negative for emerging Asian countries. In the short run, the effects are less critical in the studied countries between the two groups. Institutional quality variables impacted environmental quality differently. In this sense, it is detrimental for policymakers to consider concerted measures to decrease institutional vulnerabilities and reduce the level of the informal economy. The outcome of this study concurs with a complete awareness of the importance of informality and institutional quality to mitigate social and environmental risks conjunctively., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper examines the importance of trade openness for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows, using a sample of 36 developing economies for the period 1990-2008. It provides a direct test of causality between FDI inflows, trade openness and other key variables in developing regions of the world: Latin America, Asia, Africa, CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and Eastern Europe. Trade openness is measured by using eight different indicators. The main empirical findings of the panel regression analysis reveal that in the long run, trade openness contributes positively to the inflow of FDI in developing economies.

Income inequity and energy consumption have become important issues for sustainable development, and digitalization offers unlimited potential for bridging the income gap and decreasing energy consumption. Based on an international perspective, we confirm the impact of income inequality on energy consumption in 108 countries from 2000 to 2019 and then explore the moderating and threshold effects of digitalization on the impact of income inequality on energy consumption. The empirical results indicate that income inequality causes a surge in energy consumption, and the dynamic SYS-GMM results suggest that for every 1 unit increase in income inequality, energy consumption increases by 0.003 unit. The moderating effect suggests that digitalization helps mitigate the impact of a 3.654% surge in energy consumption caused by income inequality. In comparison, digitalization has a significant moderating effect on energy consumption in middle- and high-income countries (Europe, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific region), and the moderating effect of digitalization is effective in both free and non-free economies. The dynamic SYS-GMM threshold panel models reveal a non-linear relationship between income inequality and energy consumption affected by digitalization. This provides international evidence that reveals the underlying mechanisms of digitalization, income inequality, and energy consumption. It will better guide countries in harnessing digital dividends to overcome the twin dilemmas of the income gap and energy poverty., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper addresses the effect of English proficiency on economic growth empirically with Barro-type cross-sectional growth regression. The empirical results provide evidence of positive correlation between initial English proficiency and economic growth only for the countries in the Asia and Europe. Therefore, countries with higher levels of English proficiency among the fraction of its population are likely to grow faster. This paper suggests that the ability to absorb knowledge is positively related to the level of English proficiency. It implies that the level of English proficiency can be viewed as a component of human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Over the past decade telecommunications media and technology (TMT) has driven a new era that has evolved into the digital age. There is a growing consensus in developed countries that TMT is the most important driver of economic and social development for a society. Its genesis began in the USA and its cultural preference for market-based development set the framework for national policy and development. Recently the formation of convergence regulators amongst many of the leading nations has begun another episode. This article aims to explore and build upon a research study of the senior executives of six of the leading convergence regulators in Asia and Europe. The article aims to analyse by way of a numeric comparison expert views of the key convergence issues three and five years out. Design/methodology/approach - A generic conceptual model was constructed of the foundation, social and economic dividend issues. By examining the relative progress of nations developments of these issues and their different approaches, new insights are developed into different regulatory approaches. Findings - The concept of proactive regulation with competition (PRC) would appear to have benefits for a number of these nations. It is hoped that these research outcomes and hypotheses will generate further research and analysis amongst the world's leading regulators in order to work through the best regulatory approaches for the current challenges. Originality/value - The paper presents original research regarding regulatory challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the economic integration processes of the European Union and the East Asian nations and comments on the possible reciprocal lessons, if any, that can be drawn to smooth the future paths of the two groups. The most relevant lessons on the EU side rely on strong institutionalization, structural policies, and the monetary union. Lessons from East Asia can be found in regional production networks, trade patterns, and the recent developments in financial cooperation. Both entities are presently facing difficult challenges to progress and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implications of foreign bank penetration on economic growth from the perspective of resource allocation in host countries. We use aggregate banking data, constructed from bank-level balance sheet and income statement information covering more than 1200 banks in the 35 emerging economies of Asia, Latin America and Eastern and Central Europe for the period from 1996 to 2003. By applying pooled OLS and fixed effects estimators, we present consistent evidence that the effect of gross fixed capital formation on output growth is higher in an economy with a more pronounced level of foreign bank penetration relative to an economy with a lower level of foreign bank penetration. This finding suggests that foreign banks play an important role in allocating capital in a more productive way, thus leading to a higher economic growth rate. One of the main policy implications of our findings in this paper is that foreign banks may serve as a channel in enhancing the economic integration of emerging economies with the advanced economies that are home countries of foreign banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an alternative framework for the decomposition of the Malmquist productivity index by using the concept of a metafrontier. The approach employed allows the calculation of technical efficiency changes, as well as technical changes, for economic agents operating under different technologies. It also enables the computation of the technological gap and its changes for economic agents operating under different technologies. This framework is applied to the analysis of panel data on 58 countries over a period of 31 years from 1970 to 2000. The empirical results show that Asian countries have attempted to move towards the frontier technology and that European countries have taken the lead in the world frontier technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses dialogue on norms between Asia and Europe and conceptualization of the "normative power Europe." Topic discussed include improving standards of living in Asian countries, promotions of economic growth and trade, and Europe's normative pressures on Asia through the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.

Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan are neighbouring countries in post-Soviet Central Asia which share similar culture and language. Their economic structures were similar under central planning: they provided the agricultural basis to the Soviet economy. But, since independence, these economies have grown structurally more heterogeneous due to variations in the implementation of market-oriented reforms, the degree of integration into the global economy and natural resource endowment. This article attempts to demonstrate how this heterogeneity can explain the differing effects of the recent Global Financial Crisis on these countries' economies in general and in the banking sector in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the characteristics of trade unions in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Similarities and differences among the trade unions in those regions are viewed on the unions' density, employer recognition of the unions, and tendencies toward decentralization of collective bargaining. In Asia, big differences in the character and size of trade unionism is possible to identify because of the different level of economic development and political systems of the countries in the region.

The impacts of faster growth in China and India for Europe are analysed taking into account terms-of-trade effects, second-best welfare impacts and improvements in product quality and variety. More rapid growth in these giants could improve Europes terms of trade, but second-best effects on energy markets could lower welfare unless these taxes are Pigovian. Whether growth arises from productivity or capital accumulation has important implications, with capital-driven growth involving higher energy and agricultural prices. When quality and variety growth are taken into account, the benefits to Europe are substantially greater. If agricultural protection in emerging Asia increases with growth, the impacts on Europe appear to be adverse but small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]