Tourism and economic growth in the Pacific region: evidence from five small island economies

We present a country-specific analysis on the effect of tourism on the economic growth of five small Pacific Island Countries (PICs) – Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. The results show tourism development is growth-enhancing for all five countries. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is growth-enhancing for Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and in the short run, a delayed negative association for Fiji and Vanuatu is found. Remittances are growth-retarding for Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, with a short-run delayed positive association for Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. Financial development is growth-retarding for Solomon Islands and Tonga, with a short-run positive association for Fiji and Samoa. While the results underscore the huge importance of tourism in generating growth and FDI in the Pacific, given the ongoing adverse effects of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, PICs will have to focus on alternative sectors to progress economic activities. Policy suggestions are discussed along these lines. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

From COVID to conflict: Understanding the deriving forces of environment and implications for natural resources.

In the contemporary world, the importance of natural resources is increasing day by day especially due to extraordinary circumstances, i.e., COVID-19 and global conflicts. The abundance of natural resource is considered competitive advantage and crucial for sustainable development. However, the role of natural resources can be questionable especially if its impact on the economy is negative. Sustainable use of natural resources is currently the biggest challenge for governance. Following these footprints, the study aims to revisit a novel perspective of natural resources in the context of global conflicts using data from Asian economies for the period of 1996-2020. In this pursuit, this study investigates how governance balances macroeconomic variables with sustainable development to account for effective climate change adaptation, mitigation efforts and integral to control conflicts. The second-generation test of CIPS and CADF are used to deal with cross-sectional dependence issues and Westerlund cointegration to estimate long-run relationships. Furthermore, the long-run coefficients are estimated by the PMG estimator using dynamic panel ARDL approach. The findings confirm that surpassing the threshold level of governance is essential to promote environmental quality and preservation of natural resources. The region needs to promote steward policy for resources. This can take the form of nationalizing resource assets, increasing taxes and royalties on resource extraction to ensure sustainable development. The handlers need to design polices supportive to renewable energy consumption, endorse IT based industry solution, encourage high-tech inward FDI, promote green financing and support sustainable development.

The Impact of Epidemics on Green Innovation: Global Analysis

Epidemics and their resulting pandemics have become essential factors influencing economic development, financial stability, poverty, and ultimately a country's innovation level, including green technology innovation. This research thus investigates epidemic events' correlation to green innovation by operating with skewed panel data involving 134 countries from 1971 to 2018 and provides compelling proof that Epidemics have a detrimental effect on green innovation, not only for the current year but also for the next six years. We also show that the quality of institutions and financial development levels weaken epidemics' detrimental effects on green innovation. Overall, the findings would draw particular attention from policymakers.

The Effect of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Foreign Direct Investment in the Era of Global Value Chain: Evidence from the Asian Countries

The global value chain has promoted foreign direct investments in emerging markets. Not only resources but also public policies can affect the inflows or outflows of foreign direct investments (FDI). This study investigates the effect of economic policy uncertainty on net foreign direct investment inflows in 48 Asian countries. We use the panel dataset from different sources from 1995 to 2020. Our core dependent variable is net foreign direct investment inflows, and the explanatory variable is economic policy uncertainty. The study's control variables include trade, GDP per capita, GDP growth, population, financial development, inflation, and employment. We use the generalized system method of moment (SYS_GMM). Furthermore, the robustness of our empirical results is checked by using the different proxy variables of policy uncertainty. Our results confirm the negative effect of policy uncertainty on foreign direct investment inflows in 48 Asian countries. Our results show that foreign investment inflows are more sensitive than domestic investment. The influence of domestic and global uncertainty on inward FDI is greater than domestic investment. Furthermore, the interaction effect of financial development (FD) shows that FD does not affect mitigation of the negative impact of global economic policy uncertainty on foreign investment inflow. In contrast, FD mitigates the adverse effects of domestic policy uncertainty on foreign and domestic investment. The findings imply that policies need to be attractive, effective, and transparent to woo FDI to the emerging markets.

Effect of Remittance-Sending Countries' Type on Financial Development in Recipient Countries: Can the Pandemic Make a Difference?

This study examines the effect of remittances on selected recipient countries' financial development. Using weights for bilateral remittances from 1990 to 2015, this study calculates the weighted gross national income per capita of remittance-sending countries. This study then uses the weighted gross national income as an instrument to address the endogeneity between remittance and financial development. Using the instrument variable (IV) model, this study finds that remittances from low-skilled migrant-abundant sending countries have different effects than the highly skilled labor-abundant sending countries. Assuming the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as a source of low-skilled and the Group of Seven (G7) as the source of high-skilled labor-abundant sending countries, remittance from relatively low-skilled emigrants has a greater impact on financial inclusion in the recipient countries than their high-skilled counterparts. In contrast, remittance from high-skilled countries has a greater impact on the development of the stock market. Similar types of effects of remittance on financial development have also been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results suggest that policymakers should provide better foreign employment opportunities and improved transaction and investment policies in the home financial markets.

Financial development, economic growth and the role of fiscal policy during normal and stress times: Evidence for 26 EU countries

This article empirically explores the finance-growth relationship and the performance of the financial system measured by financial depth, accessibility, and efficiency of both financial sectors, that is, institutions and stock markets. It also examines the role of fiscal policy in conjunction with the performance of financial development during both normal and stress times. The data consists of a panel of 26 European Union countries over the period 1990–2020. The results show that during normal times, the finance-led growth relationship and the stock market are greatly important, while during stress times the relationship becomes insignificant. Interestingly, financial institutions are found to be more effective at promoting growth and there is clear evidence that a potentially dynamic positive effect of institutions to growth is absorbed by macroeconomic shocks. In addition, there is evidence for a threshold at a lower level compared to those previously identified in the literature. This latter finding can be attributed to different measures of financial institutions used and the impact of macroeconomic shocks. The inability of both financial sectors to enhance economic activity seems to exhibit persistence from the occurrence of the global financial crisis until the onset of the recent Covid-19 pandemic. © 2023 The Authors. International Journal of Finance & Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Private health insurance consumption and public health-care provision in OECD countries: Impact of culture, finance, and the pandemic

In this paper, we investigate private health insurance (PHI) spending in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economies for the period 2000–2020, with a focus on the impact of financial, cultural, and health-environment factors. PHI consumption is positively associated with financial development and cultural–social–economic factors, such as income, education, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation, whereas it is negatively associated with public health spending, masculinity, indulgence, and power distance. In addition, factors related to the health environment, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have a negative influence on PHI consumption in the selected OECD economies owing to losses in income. Our findings can serve as guidance for consumers and recommendations for health insurers and policymakers in designing health insurance policies and programs in developed and developing countries. © 2022 Elsevier Inc.

Measuring Financial Inclusion in India: An Approach

In light of the COVID-19-induced financial crisis, the need for robust financial services and networks has become more apparent than ever, which necessitated the accurate measurement of the breadth of financial inclusion in India. First, the study conducted a detailed critical review of the current indices and their construction methodology. Then, we created a financial inclusion index for India by accounting for the flaws existing in the current indices. The primary contribution of this study to the existing literature is the new approach it proposed for the assignment of weights in the financial inclusion index. Based on this new financial inclusion index, the study concluded that India's Southern states and union territories showed better financial inclusion. In contrast, the traditionally backward BIMARU states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, and a few of the North Eastern states of India, lagged. The study also provided a refined and inclusive definition of financial inclusion based on its new approach to index creation. © 2023, Associated Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 pandemic and unemployment rate: A hybrid unemployment rate prediction approach for developed and developing countries of Asia.

Unemployment remains a serious issue for both developed and developing countries and a driving force to lose their monetary and financial impact. The estimation of the unemployment rate has drawn researchers' attention in recent years. This investigation's key objective is to inquire about the impact of COVID-19 on the unemployment rate in selected, developed and developing countries of Asia. For experts and policymakers, effective prediction of the unemployment rate is an influential test that assumes an important role in planning the monetary and financial development of a country. Numerous researchers have recently utilized conventional analysis tools for unemployment rate prediction. Notably, unemployment data sets are nonstationary. Therefore, modeling these time series by conventional methods can produce an arbitrary mistake. To overcome the accuracy problem associated with conventional approaches, this investigation assumes intelligent-based prediction approaches to deal with the unemployment data and to predict the unemployment rate for the upcoming years more precisely. These intelligent-based unemployment rate strategies will force their implications by repeating diversity in the unemployment rate. For illustration purposes, unemployment data sets of five advanced and five developing countries of Asia, essentially Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and five agricultural countries (i.e., Pakistan, China, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia) are selected. The hybrid ARIMA-ARNN model performed well among all hybrid models for advanced countries of Asia, while the hybrid ARIMA-ANN outperformed for developing countries aside from China, and hybrid ARIMA-SVM performed well for China. Furthermore, for future unemployment rate prediction, these selected models are utilized. The result displays that in developing countries of Asia, the unemployment rate will be three times higher as compared to advanced countries in the coming years, and it will take double the time to address the impacts of Coronavirus in developing countries than in developed countries of Asia.

Measuring Financial Inclusion in India: An Approach

In light of the COVID-19-induced financial crisis, the need for robust financial services and networks has become more apparent than ever, which necessitated the accurate measurement of the breadth of financial inclusion in India. First, the study conducted a detailed critical review of the current indices and their construction methodology. Then, we created a financial inclusion index for India by accounting for the flaws existing in the current indices. The primary contribution of this study to the existing literature is the new approach it proposed for the assignment of weights in the financial inclusion index. Based on this new financial inclusion index, the study concluded that India's Southern states and union territories showed better financial inclusion. In contrast, the traditionally backward BIMARU states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, and a few of the North Eastern states of India, lagged. The study also provided a refined and inclusive definition of financial inclusion based on its new approach to index creation. © 2023, Associated Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Natural resource volatility and financial development during Covid-19: Implications for economic recovery.

Demand for natural resources is constant, while the prices of natural resources increase day-by-day, which has a significant impact on financial development and economic activity. Thus, the study intends to test the association of natural resource volatility and financial development, in order to recommend policies for economic recovery. The study acquires and analyses data for the N11 economies. The findings reveal that natural resource volatility is linked to global economic growth and governmental governance in pre-pandemic era as well as during pandemic. Results exposed that natural resource volatility has a large detrimental impact on global economic growth and plays a prominent part in economic recovery. The findings are robust and reveal that natural gas, oil, and the quality of public administration all contribute to N11 financial development. The study suggests that policymakers address the challenges raised through the solutions discussed.

Foreign direct investment under uncertainty evidence from a large panel of countries

We examine the effect of uncertainty on foreign direct investment inflows for advanced, emerging market and developing countries over a 25-year long (pre-Covid) sample. Using a push-pull framework, and controlling for both global and local factors, we find policy uncertainty has discernable and significant effects on inflows, varying in strength and direction between different groups of countries. Moreover, it is not host country uncertainty that seems to matter the most, but rather global uncertainty. Additionally, we find that high levels of uncertainty matter disproportionately. Finally, financial openness accentuates the impact of uncertainty for emerging market and developing countries.

Private Health Insurance Consumption and Public Health-Care Provision in OECD Countries: Impact of Culture, Finance, and the Pandemic

In this paper, we investigate private health insurance (PHI) spending in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economies for the period 2000–2020, with a focus on the impact of financial, cultural, and health-environment factors. PHI consumption is positively associated with financial development and cultural–social–economic factors, such as income, education, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation, whereas it is negatively associated with public health spending, masculinity, indulgence, and power distance. In addition, factors related to the health environment, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have a negative influence on PHI consumption in the selected OECD economies owing to losses in income. Our findings can serve as guidance for consumers and recommendations for health insurers and policymakers in designing health insurance policies and programs in developed and developing countries.

Coronavirus pandemic impact on bank performance.

This study examines the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic on the performance of the banking sector. Our sample consists of 1,575 banks in 85 countries from 2020Q1 to 2021Q4. The findings demonstrate that the COVID-19 outbreak has significantly decreased bank performance. Moreover, the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the bank's performance depends on the bank's and country-specific aspects. The adverse effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on bank performance is higher in smaller, undercapitalized, and less diversified banks. At the same time, a better institutional environment and financial development have significantly increased the strength and resilience of banks. The results are quite robust to using the alternative bank performance measures and estimation techniques. These findings provide practical implications for regulators and policymakers in the face of unprecedented uncertainty caused by COVID-19 epidemics.

Dynamic Effects of CO2 Emissions on Anticipated Financial Development of European Countries

This study investigates the motives behind the degrees of molecular pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic, which persisted from first walk 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020. A spatial Durbin file model is used linked to an edge backslide model in this article to find the widely inclusive and nearby consequences of present-day plan and urbanization on nonrenewable energy source by things. The outcomes are discussed next: both were available in modern-day plan and urbanization from a generally inclusive standpoint. The geological consequences of CO2 emissions were concentrated on utilizing information from 22 European countries somewhere in the range of 1990-2020, and all through the examination cycle, the Durbin spatial model was discovered. Although factors such as gross domestic product per capita, urbanization, and energy power impact CO2 emissions, exchange receptivity stays unaltered. The findings will fill in as critical repercussions for state-run administrations, wellbeing experts, and regulators in the war against the return of COVID-19 in Europe. The great number of suggestions were worthless since the concept integrated six money-connected creation assessments into a coordinated arrangement. There is information to indicate that CO2 emissions are associated with money-related events in neighboring nations.

Evaluation of post COVID-19 energy poverty and global trading impact on energy affordability

Energy poverty become a serious global problem after COVID-19 among the developing and developed countries that must have to be addressed to meet United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, the factors contributes to energy poverty have given little attention. The study aims to overlooked on the energy affordability and accessibility among the Europeans living in Energy poverty. Therefore, study mainly concerning on the effecting factors such as bilateral commerce, globalization, and the quality of bureaucracy that possibly affect energy poverty. The influence of bilateral commerce on energy poverty was investigated using many robust panel data approaches, including cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL), common correlated effects generalized method of moments (CCE-GMM), and instrumental variable regression. Annual data utilizes from European nations (from 2000 to 2019). According to the econometric findings, bilateral commerce enhances energy accessibility while raising energy prices. Economic globalization was meant to raise energy costs and restrict fuel access for Europe's poorest citizens. Study suggested that bilateral trade should be assessed to ensure energy demand and supply conditions meet to keep the energy pricing in the afforadbale range especially among the low income families in the Europen countries. Across models, these results are consistent, allowing us to propose fresh energy accessibility and affordability conclusions in line with the SDGs.

The non-linear effects of fixed broadband on economic growth in Africa

Purpose The study assesses the non-linear nexus between fixed broadband and economic growth. The study focuses on data from 33 African countries for the period 2010 to 2020. Design/methodology/approach The empirical evidence is based on unit root tests, panel smooth transition regression and the generalized method of moments. Findings The following findings are established in this study. (1) The proportion of the population with access to electricity above and below which the relationship between fixed broadband and economic growth changes in sign is about 60%. (2) Below this threshold, each 1% increase in fixed broadband subscriptions induces a decline in economic growth of about 2.58%. Above the threshold, economic growth would increase by 2.43% when fixed broadband subscriptions increase by 1%. Sensitivity analyses and generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation show that these results are robust. Practical implications Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which requires countries to take adequate measures to curb the spread of the pandemic, especially by means of virtual economic activities, any national policy aiming at improving the access of populations to high levels of fixed broadband services should be preceded by the implementation of an electrification program for at least 60% of the total population. Otherwise, providing a good quality internet connection for the benefit of the population would not produce the expected effects on economic growth and would, therefore, be counterproductive. Originality/value This study complements the extant literature by providing thresholds at which fixed broadband affects economic growth.

ACHIEVING GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION THROUGH CLIMATE CHANGE CONTROL WITH THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN COVID-19 PERIOD

The study inquired the role of financial development (FD) on climate change control in COVID-19 period to identify the ways useful to achieve greenhouse gas mitigation in BRICS economies. BRICS countries are included because of their high energy-environment dependence and their need for climate financing through FD promoting greenhouse gas emission. The projected role of FD activity on climate change mitigation is inferred using the generalized methods of moments (GMM). The study results indicated that five out of the six climate change mitigation indicators have a long-term correlation with BRICS’s CO2 emissions. On the other side, there is no evidence of integration between variables in Russia. Moreover, the findings revealed that there 18% rise in FD is estimated, this raised the probability of effective climate change mitigation by 39% in the post-COVID-period, and it reduces greenhouse gas mitigations by 24.7%. The results also highlighted that there is a one-way correlation between energy use and climate drifts. On these findings, policymakers and environmental regulators in BRICS could take inspiration from our study to plan and revisit greenhouse gas mitigation through proper environmental legislation. Additionally, it also encourages other countries and economies to perform comparable assessments and select the best course of action. Hence, this study provides detailed and viable recommendations for key stakeholders for consideration and application to achieve the intended objectives.

Re-examining the nexuses of communicable diseases, environmental performance, and dynamics of sustainable Development in OECD countries.

We investigate the determinants of communicable diseases (CDs) and nexus of financial development, economic development, and renewable energy consumption to address the issues of ecological footprint level, the impacts of communicable diseases (CDs), and economic growth of the OECD countries throughout 2000-2019. The results from FMOLS and DOLS reveal that the levels of financial development, energy consumption, and trade volume significantly contribute to overcoming the death toll occurring due to CDs. As regards the growth function, the level of trade in the economy is significantly associated with economic growth. The findings reveal that the improvements and developments in the financial sectors and trading activities cause a reduction in the infection cases represented by COVID-19. In contrast, economic growth does have a negative but insignificant impact upon COVID-19. We conclude that sound financial development combined with economic and environmental regulations could be strategically helpful to cope with CDs.

The impact of financial development on environmental sustainability: A European perspective

This research aimed to analyze the impact of financial development on environmental sustainability. Data was collected for 34 countries in Europe, covering the period from 2000 to 2020. Data analysis was conducted using the Feasible Generalised Least Squares (FGLS) model, a random-effects model (specified by the Hausman test), and the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) approach. It was found that lending rates are negatively related to CO2 emissions per capita, total CO2, and CO2 by the transport industry. It was also found that bank credit to the private sector increases total CO2 emissions and CO2 emissions from the power and transport industries. This study found that domestic credit to the private sector increases total CO2 emissions. An important implication of these results is that borrowers should be selected and monitored using more stringent criteria to ensure compliance with environmental requirements. This study has made multiple contributions. It has extended knowledge about how the financial sector impacts the environment. It has used two models that can handle issues of collinearity and heteroscedasticity. Its findings are useful for understanding the financial development-environmental health association in this unique COVID-19 pandemic context. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd