Exchange rate asymmetry and its impact on bilateral trade: Evidence from BCIM-EC countries using N-ARDL approach.

The novelty of this study is to examine the asymmetric effect of the exchange rate on bilateral export and import between Bangladesh and its three trading partners in the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor using nonlinear ARDL models from 1973 to 2022. After controlling income and structural breaks, the empirical findings confirm the asymmetric effects of exchange rates on the short-run and long-run export and import demand functions of Bangladesh. Furthermore, the impacts of the appreciation and depreciation of the Bangladeshi currency are heterogeneous for these three trading partners. For instance, the depreciation of the Bangladeshi currency increases exports to China and India while it decreases exports to Myanmar in the short run. However, the depreciation increases exports to India and Myanmar, and the appreciation also increases exports to China and India in the long-run. On the contrary, depreciation increases imports from China and Myanmar in the short-run, while it decreases imports from Myanmar in the long run. Only appreciation has significant negative effects on China and India. As a robustness measure, we exclude the COVID-19 period. However, it does not substantially change our main findings.

Does air pollution increase child mortality? Evidence from 58 developing countries.

This study aims to investigate the effects of air quality on child mortality in developing countries. We consider annual data covering the period from 2010 to 2016 of 58 countries and estimate the empirical models using recently developed panel quantile regression with the method of moments (MM-QR). It is found that outdoor air quality (measured by the concentration of PM2.5 in the air) has a positive and significant effect on total child mortality, post-neonatal mortality, and under-five child mortality. However, its effect on neonatal mortality is not statistically significant at lower quantiles. Furthermore, Household air pollution (HAP) also has a positive and significant effect on total child mortality, neonatal mortality, and under-five child mortality. The effect of HAP on post-neonatal mortality is not significant in most cases. Overall, the adverse effect of HAP is larger than the PM2.5. For instance, a 1% increase of PM2.5 concentration in the outdoor causes 0.231% total child mortality due to respiratory diseases at [Formula: see text], while a 1% increase of HAP causes 0.532% total child mortality at the same quantile. In many cases, the coefficients of PM2.5 and HAP increase at the higher quantiles, supporting asymmetric effects of pollutants on child mortality. However, per capita income, access to basic drinking water and sanitation facilities, and domestic and external health expenditures significantly reduce child mortality. On the contrary, open defecation increases mortality. Consequently, policymakers should take adequate measures to improve indoor and outdoor air quality to combat child mortality due to respiratory diseases in developing countries. They should also take initiatives to enhance per capita income, basic drinking water, and sanitation facilities, domestic and external health expenditures, and public awareness against open defecation.