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The main objective of this paper is to look at how environmental degradation in the form of climate change and air pollution affect international tourism for five countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) over the years 1990-2019. Other independent variables include information and communication technology (ICT) and democracy. We also look at the role of environmental regulation to see the validity of porter hypothesis in the tourism sector. To achieve this objective, we apply a novel method of moments quantile regression approach as well as a robust causality technique. The result shows that at lower and medium quantile, CO 2 emission has positive impact on tourism while at higher quantile, CO 2 emission has negative but insignificant effect on tourism in BRICS countries. The result for PM2.5 is uniform across all the quantiles, showing the negative effect on tourism. ICT and human capital positively affect the tourism while democracy has negative impact on the tourism sector of the BRICS nations. The result also validated the Porter hypothesis for tourism sector. We conclude that tourism industry stakeholders and the environmental policymakers must work together to integrate tourism policies with BRICS countries' environmental conservation policies as part of the transition to sustainable tourism industry., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Environmental sustainability concerns are growing worldwide. Many recent studies have focused on key indicators of CO2 emissions, but less consideration has been given to human capital. This study examines the impact of human capital on CO2 emissions in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) economies from 1991 to 2019 using a nonlinear panel autoregressive distributed lag approach. Findings show that positive change in education has reduced CO2 emissions, while a negative change in education has increased CO2 emissions in the long run in a group of BRICS. Regarding economy-wise analysis, a positive change in education reduces CO2 emissions in Russia, China, and South Africa in the long run, but a negative change in education has an increasing impact on CO2 emissions in Brazil and China. The results of robustness are also maintained in group and economy-wise empirical analysis. Policymakers should develop the education sector infrastructure in order to support the decrease of CO2 emissions., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

With rapid economic growth, BRICS is facing enormous burdens of carbon emission and severe issues of income inequality. However, behind this economic success, the BRICS economies also face few thoughtful challenges to improve environmental quality by catching up the sustainable development goals. Consequently, the existing empirical research is concerned with the dynamic links between income inequality and CO 2 emissions by using the novel nonlinear ARDL approach, but small attention has been paid to the BRICS in literature. Therefore, we observed that a negative and positive change in income inequality has positive effect on CO 2 emissions in Russia and South Africa in the long run, although a positive change in income inequality has positive effects on CO 2 emissions in Brazil, Russia, and China, while a negative change in income inequality has negative effect on CO 2 emissions in India, Brazil, and Russia in the short run. Hence, the findings value specific attention from policymakers in BRICS economies., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Among the environmental economics research issues, the issue of convergence has received quite a lot of attention, which is also known as stationary analysis. In this research strand, whether shocks to the time series variable are permanent or temporary is tested via the unit root tests. In this study, based on the theory and empirical works of stochastic convergence, we evaluate the convergence for the BASIC member countries, including Brazil, South Africa, India, and China. We use a variety of methodologies to see whether the convergence of ecological footprint holds for these countries or not. We first use the wavelet decomposition technique to decompose the series into the short run, middle run, and long run, and then we run several unit root tests to confirm the stationarity property of the series. The methodologies implemented in this study allow us to apply econometric tests to the original series as well as to the decomposed series. The results of panel CIPS test demonstrate that the null hypothesis of unit root could be rejected for the short run but not for the middle and long run, implying that long-lasting impact might prevail due to any shocks to the ecological footprint in the middle and long run. The results for individual countries varied., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Since developing countries experience economic and environmental sustainability challenges, it is desirable digging into the linkages between economic and environmental parameters. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory (i.e., the inverse U-shape connection between real GDP per capita and per capita carbon dioxide emissions) in the sample of 11 developing countries. By using balanced annual panel data in the period between 1992 and 2014 and two alternative estimation techniques, we explored the potential inverted U-shaped linkage between carbon dioxide emissions and real GDP per capita in the sample of interest. For analysis purposes, Pedroni and Westerlund co-integration techniques are employed. Then, fully modified ordinary least squares, pooled mean group methods are applied for long-run parameter estimations. And, the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality approach is employed for causal directions. Firstly, this work's findings provide the supportive evidence to the inverse U-shaped linkage in the long-run, indicating that an increase in real GDP per capita and electricity consumption tends to mitigate long-run carbon dioxide emissions in the developing countries, for the whole sample. Secondly, the country-specific findings suggested the presence of EKC theory for Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, the Russian Federation, Thailand, and Turkey. It implicated that these countries are on the path of attaining environmental sustainability in the long-run. However, Mexico, Philippines, Indonesia, and South Africa failed to lend credence to the EKC theory. It manifested that these countries need to design strategies directed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from economic activity and electricity generation through efficiency improvement or promotion of renewables. Finally, bidirectional causal links are observed among all the variables of interest. The findings suggest that country-specific targeted action plans should be implemented to ensure the environmental sustainability in the developing world.

This study examines links between Morgan and Stanley capital Investment (MSCI), foreign direct investment (FDI), renewable energy, urbanization, and trade openness on environmental degradation in (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) BRICS countries. In this study, generalized method of moment (GMM) estimation is applied on a data set ranging from 1993 to 2018. Results illustrate that stock market index price (MSCI) has negative relationship on CO 2 emissions in India, China, Russia, and South Africa and has positive relationship in Brazil. One possible reason for this is strong environmental regulations and their enforcement by Brazilian government. The study also finds that trade openness, FDI, and urbanization have a significant positive relationship on environmental degradation. The impact of stock market development on environmental degradation varies among BRICS countries. Our outcomes have significant policy implications. For example, the policy makers have to initiate effective strategies to promote the renewable energy sources to meet the increasing demand for energy by replacing the use of conventional energy such as coal, gas, and oil. This will help to reduce the CO 2 emissions from fossil fuel and ensure sustainable stock market development in the BRICS nations. BRICS countries who have taken the initiative and formulated policies for businesses to conserve the environment play a positive role compared to those who do not.

Purpose: The study aims to explore the extent to which human resources development quantifies the economic growth of BRICS countries under the globalization era by controlling country differences. Design/methodology/approach: The study used the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and Scheffe pairwise comparison tests to quantify the impact of the variables and the level of difference among the BRICS countries onto human Resources development. Findings: The study observes that the impact of human resources development on economic growth of BRICS counties is significant but limited to few countries. The study reveals that countries such as India and South Africa are unable to utilize their human resources efficiently to promote economic growth, as compared with Russia, China and Brazil. The study further argues that there is urgent need of amalgam of various economic development theories keeping in mind the regional needs to extract the positive impact from human resource on economic development. Research limitations/implications: The single limitation of this research is that it was not possible to compare the results with other developing countries to unleash the capabilities of human resources development with regard to economic growth at the universal level. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to analyze human resources development at a much deeper level. The paper has chosen variables which are important from the policy perspective of government rather than the working perspective, which is a great contribution. Further, for human index the variables chose covering major aspects of human development from spending perspective.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to systematically examine and draw attention to the potential benefits of solar power generation for access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) aimed at sustainable development in emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach: Electricity plays a crucial role in the development and use of ICT and in the process of striving to achieve sustainable development in emerging economies. It has been shown that electrical energy is intrinsically linked to economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. An extensive analysis of the major contribution of solar electricity in various sectors such as economic, social and environmental benefits is provided. The paper concludes with a discussion on current status of solar electricity in major emerging economies, their planning policies and strategies for promoting solar power generation for increased access to ICT by people and sustainable development of society. Findings: The demand for electricity in residential, commercial and industrial sectors in developing countries (emerging economies) is likely to increase, both as a result of increase in population and expanding industrialization. It remains amongst others, a growing challenge for these nations to obtain and put in place reliable and secured electricity supplies, for accessing ICT and to work towards achieving sustainability. The important issues that must be considered and addressed for the successful implementation of solar electricity programs for sustainability and wellbeing in developing nations are pointed out. Practical implications: The paper shows that the problems of lack of qualified solar technicians and established Photovoltaic (PV) markets and business modes, renewable (solar) energy education have to be addressed. Other issues include appreciation of solar electricity as one of the major energy component, lowering initial cost of the PV technology, availability of finance mechanisms for customers, import tax exemption and regarding electricity as one of the basic needs like food, shelter and clothing. Overhaul of existing systems needs to take place in order to provide the means to deal with some of these issues. Originality/value: Availability of power remains crucial for development in emerging markets. Solar electricity is of major interest for the energy sector in developing or emerging economies because it offers the possibility of generating renewable electricity using sunlight: a resource that is widely and freely available in most, if not all, developing countries. This paper raises awareness about this in a unique way and identifies problems faced by the sectors. To address some of these challenges without compromising the goal of sustainability and development, it is important that low carbon emitting electrical energy sources such as solar electricity are given high priorities by policy makers, industries and research and development institutions in emerging countries. Some innovative suggestions are provided for achieving this. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

This paper scrutinizes the asymmetric impact of education and education expenditure on clean energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the BRICS economies using annual data for the period 1991-2019. The analysis employs a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework. Findings unfold that a positive change in education contributes to increasing clean energy consumption in Brazil, Russia, India, and China. This finding implies that a negative change in education contributes to reducing clean energy consumption in Brazil, Russia, and India in the long run. Nonetheless, a positive change in education expenditure increased the clean energy consumption in Brazil, Russia, and India, while it has decreased in South Africa. On the dark side, a negative change in education expenditure degrades clean energy consumption in India, China, and South Africa in the long run. The asymmetric empirical results of CO2 emissions are mixed, economy-specific, and vary across group countries in the long run. We find that the education and education expenditure has long-run asymmetric effects in BRICS industries. Thus empirical findings give us robust policy implications for BRICS economies., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The role of government size and digitization in the process of environmental quality is a matter of considerable debate in the field of environmental economics. BRICS economies have suffered from environmental pollution. This paper scrutinizes that how CO 2 emissions respond to government size and digitization in BRICS economies. Empirical estimates of the ARDL approach show that government size has a positive impact on CO 2 in Brazil, India, and China, while negative impact on CO 2 in Russia in the long run. The long-run estimates reveal a negative and significant effect of digitization on CO 2 in Brazil, India, and China. Education and e-learning activities have a favorable and crucial role played in environmental quality in Brazil, India, and China. Based on these findings, BRICS authorities should improve the efficiency of government expenditures and invest more in digitization to improve the quality of the environment., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This study examines the relationship between FDI and CO 2 emissions in a nonlinear framework using data from countries along the "One Belt, One Road" from 1979 to 2017 as the sample. First, the linear analysis method was used to examine the stability of FDI and CO 2 emissions in countries along the "One Belt, One Road." In addition, the BDS (Brock-Dechert-Scheinkman test) method and nonlinear Granger causality test are used to investigate the nonlinear relationship between variables. Finally, a threshold vector autoregressive model (TVAR) is used to analyze the dynamic change mechanism between China's FDI and CO 2 emissions, and a threshold vector error correction model (TVECM) is used to test how the variables respond to deviations from equilibrium. Then, the Markov switching model is used to test the robustness of the results. The research results show that China, India, South Africa, and other countries all have a nonlinear causal relationship between FDI and CO 2 emissions. At the same time, the comovement of FDI and CO 2 emissions in China has obvious structural break features, which are relevant for the underlying regime. Furthermore, the results also show that the adjustment process of the FDI toward equilibrium is highly persistent in the first regime, and CO 2 emissions will adjust to an equilibrium state at a faster speed in the second regime. Therefore, this paper puts forward different policy suggestions for different countries. For China, we should pay attention to the long-term benefits of FDI and introduce high-tech green FDI.

This paper illustrates the direct and indirect effects of democracy on CO 2 emissions in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) from 1992 to 2018. In view of the distribution heterogeneity of CO 2 emissions, the panel quantile regression model is especially used to explore the nexus among different variables. Furthermore, in order to predict the trends of CO 2 emissions in different countries, we also estimate the kernel density function of CO 2 emissions in the BRICS countries by the quantile-fitted values. The results indicate that the direct impact of democracy on carbon dioxide emissions is significantly negative and great at high-emission countries. Although the indirect effect of democracy is positive in China and negative in Brazil and South Africa, the total effect of democracy on CO 2 emissions remains negative in all BRICS countries. The estimation of kernel density function shows that the distribution of CO 2 emissions in each country is gradually concentrated. Moreover, there is an environmental Kuznets curve depicting the linkage of urbanization and carbon dioxide emissions in Brazil and South Africa. These findings further highlight that the impact of democracy on high-emission and low-emission countries should be taken into account in policymaking to achieve sustainable developments.

The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are central to future global economic development. However, they are facing both environmental and natural resource stresses due to their rapid economic growth. This study examines the balance between economic benefits and cost of environmental emissions and resource usage in BRICS countries so that future sustainable development insights can be provided. The historical trends of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), water, land, energy and material footprints of these countries from 1995 to 2015 are evaluated with a multi-regional input-output model. Also, whether a decoupling relationship exists between economic development, environmental emissions and resources consumption, is examined. In addition, whether environmental emissions and resource usage costs to obtain identical economic gains of these countries in global trade are explored. The major results show that in congruence with economic development, the average annual growth rates of footprint indicators ranged from 0.2% in 1995 to 9.8% in 2015. A decoupling effect did not occur for CO 2 emissions or water consumption but did exist for other indicators. Global trade across the supply chain shows to achieve a unit of USD economic benefit from trade, BRICS countries tend to use relatively greater environmental emissions and resource consumption to high income countries, when compared to other income level countries. These emergent economies did receive relatively greater benefits per environmental emissions and resource usage cost from lower-middle and low-income countries., 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 © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this paper, we investigated the association between CO 2 emissions, remittances, income, energy use, and foreign direct investment (FDI) through panel cointegration analysis, common correlated effect mean group (CCEMG), fully modified least squares (FM-LS) estimates, and panel causality test for the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) economies over 1986-2016. The empirical outcomes of CCEMG and FM-LS clarified that remittance inflows into BRICS region are contributing to environmental degradation. Similarly, results in the case of Brazil, Russia, and China supported the remittances-led emission hypothesis. On the other hand, different results have been reached in India, thus the remittances; inflows have dictated that they are helping to combat CO 2 emission. Furthermore, FDI has a positive and significant sign for BRICS economies. This relationship narrated that the FDI inflows to this region increase the CO 2 emission, hence obeying the pollution haven hypothesis. Finally, energy use also supports the energy-led emanation phenomenon in BRICS panel and alongside the countries. The panel causality test confirms the bidirectional linkage between remittances and CO 2 emissions.

In a neo-classical aggregate production and Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) modeling framework, the paper attempts to explore the relationship between disaggregated energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emissions in case of five emerging market economies-Brazil, Russia, China, India, and South Africa (BRICS) over the period 1992 to 2016. The study applied the robust unit root, cointegration, and long-run elasticity estimation methods like Pooled Mean Group and differenced panel generalized method of moments for empirical exercise. Having detected the panel heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence, the cointegration tests documented the evidence of a long-run association among the variables. In the long-run, capital, labor, and non-renewable energy consumption are found to affect the economic growth positively. On the contrary, the impact of renewable energy consumption on the economic growth is found be positive but statistically insignificant. Moreover, population, per-capita income, and non-renewable energy consumption are found to increase the emissions whereas renewable energy consumption decreases them. Therefore, along with a proper emissions controls, BRICS countries should design and implement effective support policies so as to ensure the economic growth along with environmental sustainability.

This paper adopts the bounds testing approach to test for the validity of the cointegration or stationarity restriction embodied in five import demand model specifications for CIBS during the period 1970-2007. It identifies long-run relationships in a subset of the five models for each CIBS countries. We find that long-run income elasticities are much higher compared to earlier studies and are higher than the short-run counterparts for CIBS. In addition, contrary to the traditional wisdom, price elasticities are not significantly negative for these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the patterns of export productivity and trade specialization profiles in Brazil, China, India and South Africa, and in other economic groupings and regions. Various measures of trade specialization and a time varying export productivity indicator are estimated using highly disaggregated export data. The findings reveal that there are important differences in the export productivity and specialisation patterns across countries and regions. Export productivity-and export sophistication-are in line to that of wealthier and more advance economies. The results further confirm the importance of not just the volume of exports, but the type of specialisation patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on domestically stable financial openness by considering financial openness and exchange rate stability together to develop the stability in openness index (SIO). It analyzes the relationship between stability in openness and growth for emerging economies, which include China, Brazil, India and South Africa, with England as a benchmark. The article also suggests that stability in openness has a positive impact on economic growth.

. This article uses social accounting matrices in a Leontief multiplier model to estimate the effects of trade expansion on employment and incomes in India and South Africa. The evaluation focuses on a period of rapid trade liberalization beginning in the early 1990s, distinguishing between trade with developed and developing countries. Employment results identify winning and losing industries and examine sex and skill biases. Income results examine inequality measured by household income distribution (rural and urban). Results are presented in the context of trade theory as regards adjustment mechanisms for bringing trade into balance and implications of specialization for economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimisation and diversification of South Africa's energy generation mix is fundamental to meeting its developmental goals and enhancing the crucially important security of supply. South Africa should investigate means to diversify its generating capacity. With the growing demand, South Africa has reached a point where other methods of power generation need to be considered and implemented. This study gives a detailed description of the South African energy supply mix, its evolvement in the past 25 years, and assesses how South Africa fares in comparison with other countries such as its BRICS companions (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in terms of its current and future energy mix. It was found that the total primary energy supply (TPES) share of non-OECD countries is becoming more prominent, with China, India, and Russia being significant contributors. The OECD's ratio of universal TPES decreased from 1990 to 2015. There is a heavy reliance on fossil fuels in the BRICS countries, which appeals to appropriate policies to influence and guide the transition from the current fossil fuel-dominated energy supply mix to one that follows international trends but, most of all, appreciates its specific geographic position and natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Projected economic growth for China and India presents considerable opportunities and dilemmas for the African region, especially for human development, rights and security around its own growth centre, South Africa. This article juxtaposes a set of overlapping perspectives - emerging economies versus nics, fragile versus developmental states, new regionalisms, resource conflicts and new South - South relations - to analyse the present and prospective implications for sub-Saharan and South African development. Sustained Chinese and Indian growth may present opportunities, even windfalls, for some countries, companies, classes and sectors on the continent but not for all. This opens up a number of fundamental questions in terms of an expanded research agenda. Will Chinese and Indian multinational corporations and supply chains operate similarly or differently from familiar Anglo-American ones? Will civil societies within and diasporas around India and China affect their respective transnational relations? And will African regional institutions be able to moderate any negative impacts from these changing dynamics? Recent review articles have suggested that international relations (ir) in Africa is 'different'. But what is neglected is how the emerging relationship with China affects this assertion. The article concludes with reflections on implications for development policy and theory arising from 'drivers' such as China, India, and South Africa at the start of the new century. Our thesis is that, given growing divergences in Africa to sustain resource extraction, the emerging economies have to deal with fragile well as developmental states. Crucial in determining this outcome is whether or not the continent's single 'superpower' can facilitate or mediate this process given its own national interest and human development concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents seven case studies of successful health biotechnology innovation in developing countries. These seven countries are Brazil, India, China, Egypt, South Africa, Cuba and South Korea. Though each of these countries were at different stage of economic development, when compared with advanced nations, several factors emerged from the analysis that appear key to the establishment of a successful health biotechnology sector. Recombinant insulin development in Egypt and meningitis B vaccine in Cuba on one hand and more number of health biotechnology publications by China and South Korea on the other are some of the success stories of the developing nations.