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This paper examines the asymmetric link between carbon pricing and the comparative advantage in environmental goods exports in South Africa from 1995 to 2021. The non‐linear autoregressive distributed lag model is utilized to investigate the effects of both minor and major positive and negative fluctuations in carbon taxes, technological innovation, and energy transition on comparative advantage. The results reveal that carbon taxes have an asymmetric effect on comparative advantage in both the short and long runs, with positive shocks exerting a greater beneficial influence than negative shocks. Specifically, it is found that a 1% reduction in carbon taxes corresponds to a 1.24% decline in the response variable, whereas a 1% increase in carbon taxes is associated with a 2.72% increase in comparative advantage in environmental goods exports, which is twice as large. The study also uncovers evidence of an asymmetric relationship between low‐carbon technological innovation and comparative advantage in environmental goods exports. However, strong evidence of a long‐run asymmetric linkage between the energy transition and comparative advantage is not established. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that a positive shift in energy transition is linked with a 0.32% rise in comparative advantage in environmental goods exports, whereas a negative shift in energy transition corresponds to a 0.11% decrease. The practical policy implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the pressing need to address environmental concerns, this study explores the relationship between environmental taxes and CO2 emissions embodied in domestic final demand in South Africa. The study uses a non‐linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model to analyse the asymmetric impact of environmental taxes. Results indicate that environmental taxes have an asymmetric impact on CO2 emissions embodied in domestic final demand in both the short and long runs. Specifically, both positive and negative shifts in environmental taxes are linked with a respective 0.06% decrease and a more pronounced 0.22% decrease in CO2 emissions embodied in domestic final demand. Moreover, positive shocks in the GDP growth rate are associated with an approximately 0.002% uptick in CO2 emissions, while negative shocks lead to a 0.012% decrease. Additionally, both positive and negative shocks in population growth exhibit a significant positive correlation with the response variable. The baseline estimates demonstrate that the joint effect of environmental taxes and the GDP growth rate is correlated with reductions in CO2 emissions embodied in domestic final demand. Similarly, the joint influence of environmental taxes and population growth rate is linked to declines in CO2 emissions. The study highlights the practical policy implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to study the relationship between remittances and economic growth in African emerging economies from 1990 to 2021. The study centers on the optimistic, pessimistic, and the dual‐gap theories. The autoregressive distributed lag and cointegration techniques are applied. The findings indicate that remittances have a nonsignificantly negative effect on the gross domestic product growth rate. Domestic credit to the private sector and the inflation rate negatively influence economic growth. Policymakers should prioritize targeted response to the COVID‐19 crisis by reducing the costs of access to vaccines and healthcare for the populace so that the received remittances should significantly improve the population's welfare positively. Governments should recognize remittance services and reduce remittance costs by reducing taxes on remittances. Governments should increase the formalization of remittance transfers to improve accessibility to financial services to decrease the unbanked population. The monetary authorities should establish remittance‐based policies that promote the use of formal channels, ease the pressure on emerging countries' credit services, and improve foreign exchange rates. Banks should create financial products and services that attract investments and growth for the remittances of diasporas in developing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relative influence of bilateral and multilateral concessional debts on public investment in 32 sub‐Saharan African countries over the period 1985–2020. Dynamic panel autoregressive distributed lag models comprising the mean group, pooled mean group and dynamic fixed effect estimators were employed in our model estimations. The results revealed that bilateral and multilateral concessional debts had a long‐run positive and significant effect on public investment. The findings indicated that a 1% change in bilateral and multilateral concessional debt was associated with 8.6 and 11.3% increases in public investment, respectively. While the short‐run influence of bilateral concessional debts was significantly positive, multilateral concessional debts had a short‐run positive but insignificant effect on public investment. It is discovered that institutional quality is associated with declines in public investment. The contingency analysis shows that institutional quality explains a lot about how well bilateral and multilateral concessional debts drive public investment. The evidence suggests that poor institutional quality is more likely to undermine the effectiveness of bilateral concessional debts on productive investment than multilateral concessional debts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the effect of public relations planning on human resources management performance in the Independent National Electoral Commission in Nigeria. Data were collected through a mailed survey-designed questionnaire to the senior and junior staff. The staff were stratified and randomly selected from a sampling frame of employees. Multiple linear regressions and the Z-test are used for the analysis. The results reveal that public relations planning affect human resources management practice and performance. The Z-critical value suggests a significant difference between the mean ratings of senior staff and junior staff on the strategies for credible performance in the human resource management. The Z-calculated value is greater than the Z-critical value confirming a significant difference between the mean ratings of junior and senior staff on the effectiveness of public relation planning strategies in the human resource management performance. The government is should play a crucial role to guarantee effective public relations planning by employing or deploying qualified personnel, evaluating electoral programs, and staff development programs. The government should provide adequate funding to the Independent National Electoral Commission to build public trust on the information disseminated to the public. The appointment of high-profile staff should be void of biases, prejudices, and unethical practices which will decrease corruption. These policy implications permit the Independent National Electoral Commission and the government human resource managements to mitigate electoral violence, fraud, corruption, and voters' abstention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]