Could information and communication technology (ICT) reduce carbon emissions? The role of trade openness and financial development

Climate change has made countries around the world realize the importance of reducing carbon emissions. Reductions in carbon emissions needs the support of policy, technology, and financial capital. The single/double/three-threshold model is used here with data from China to study the different impact of financial development in carbon emissions in high-energy industries when the threshold variables are in different intervals. The results show that when loan size is the core explanatory variable, and research and development (R and D) expenditure and energy structure are the threshold variables, the loan size variable has a significant effect on emission reductions in high-energy industries, and this effect is strengthened with increases in R and D expenditure and decreases in the proportion of energy from coal. Taking energy intensity as the threshold variable, the relationship between loan size and carbon dioxide emissions is V-shaped. With economic structure as the threshold variable, loan size has a significant effect on emissions reduction when the proportion of industrial added value in high-energy industries is low. When using foreign investment as the core explanatory variable, R and D expenditure, energy consumption intensity, and industrial structure are threshold variables. The impact of foreign investment on carbon dioxide emissions is negative, but when the threshold variable is within different intervals, this negative impact differs. With stock market value as the core explanatory variable, and R and D expenditure and energy structure as the threshold variables, the stock market value can promote reductions in carbon emissions, but when R and D expenditure and the proportion of coal consumption is high, stock market value has no significant effect on emissions reduction. When energy consumption intensity is the threshold variable, the relationship between stock market value and carbon dioxide emissions is V-shaped.

The increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) in this digital era and its interlinkage with other economic and environmental factors have gotten considerable attention from researchers. ICT tools are considered very important in economic activities such as international trade, the financial sector, and foreign direct investment. ICT is also interlinked with innovation and energy consumption. However, ICT with these activities influences ecological footprint, especially in emerging economies such as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries. Therefore, this topic has got considerable attention from researchers and policy makers on the impact of ICT and economic growth activities on environmental quality. Consequently, this study investigates the impact of information and communication technology, renewable energy consumption and innovation on carbon dioxide emission in BRICS countries from 1990 to 2019 using cointegration, generalized least square, and panel corrected standard errors models. The findings show that two ICT indicators, mobile cellular subscription and fixed broadband subscription, negatively affect carbon emission along with economic growth and financial development. Innovation and renewable energy consumption also significantly reduce emission in presence of ICT indicators, while trade openness and fixed telephone subscriptions increase it. In the case of the ICT index model, all variables are positively associated with carbon emission except renewable energy consumption, however, the square and interaction term of all indicators significantly reduce carbon emission and evidence the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis except trade openness. ICT growth should be considered in the energy sector, innovation, and financial development to enhance environmental quality. The findings of the study have considerable policy implications for the sample countries.

Economic impact of Information and Communications Technology – identifying its restraints and exploring its potential What is the overall impact of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on company and industry performance as well as the economy in general that has been witnessed over the last two decades? This chapter deals with theoretical approaches and empirical research related to the topic which has intrigued economists ever since R. Solow's statement 'We see computers everywhere except in productivity statistics' aroused the interest and debate concerning the impact of ICT on growth and productivity. The hypotheses regarding the economic impact of ICT will be discussed followed by a conclusion arising from a large number of empirical studies. There have been three hypotheses regarding the overall impact of ICT on growth and productivity. According to the first hypothesis, growth and productivity are stimulated by investment in ICT ; according to the second hypothesis, growth and productivity are stimulated by using ICT ; whereas according to the third hypothesis, ICT has no significant impact on economy. While the initial wave of research was based on quantitative indicators of effects of ICT investment, in the second stage a shift towards a qualitative approach was made, taking into consideration the complementary nature of investments and factors such as organizational change, human capital accumulation, quality of work effects as well as investment into research and development. Research has shown that ICT increases work productivity via three mechanisms. The first mechanism is the impact via production in the ICT sector. The ICT sector, which consists of two segments – manufacturing and services – contributes to growth in countries in which it is growing faster than the rest of the economy. This is true even despite the power of the ICT sector in those countries which, quantitatively speaking, is relatively small owing to limited markets, examples of which include Australia, Finland and Ireland. The other mechanism is using ICT in business activities. The third way is technological spillover. This chapter discusses a research conducted in Croatia concerning the size of the ICT sector and company performance. The research shows that the ICT sector productivity is above the average when compared to the Croatian economy in general. High entry rates and high survival rates are indicators of entrepreneurial potential and market growth that tend to accompany the initial stage of the ICT sector development. Considering the ever greater significance of entrepreneurship and the inevitable role of ICT, this chapter will also examine the potential impact of ICT on entrepreneurship. The latter has been acknowledged as one of the generators of growth and recognized as such by policy makers. In recent literature, apart from capital, work and knowledge capital, entrepreneurship capital appears as a factor of growth. Since entrepreneurship on the demand side is a major factor in technological change, we shall attempt to propose possible avenues of research into ICT potential for entrepreneurship. There are two ways in which ICT can benefit entrepreneurship development. One of them is through entrepreneurship in the ICT sector which, owing to the nature of technology, shows a high level of innovativeness, while the increase in demand opens up the possibility for the entry of new businesses. The other is through the mechanism of using ICT and spillover effects, i.e., network effects. From the perspective of spatial analysis of development it is possible to examine the impact of ICT on regional development. It is interesting to analyze regional development, as a particularly widely supported development model in the European Union, in the light of the impact of ICT on it as well as of the impact of neighbouring regions on regional development through the spillover process. Finally, guidelines for the exploitation and exploration of the ICT potential for countries of varying experience and achieved level of development are discussed in the conclusion.

The globalization revolution has led to many countries considering advancing technology, which has led to electronic finance becoming an important aspect in all economic and financial sectors. This study aims to investigate the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on the financial development index of six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries from the period 2000 to 2016. The results are reported in terms of two main ICT variables: fixed broadband and Internet users as a proxy of ICT and domestic credit to private sector as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) and broad money supply/GDP as two proxies of the financial development index. This methodology used fixed effects (FEs) estimations, and the results show that an increase in fixed broadband has a statistically significant and positive effect on both proxies of financial development. In terms of domestic credit as a percentage of the GDP proxy, the positive effects of ICT (broadband) are greater than the one from Internet users. A 1% increase in fixed broadband leads to approximately 2% increase in financial development, but the Internet user variable resulted in about a 0.09% increase. The other money supply proxy increased by 0.40% when ICT increased by 1%. Additionally, money supply increased by 0.11% when the Internet user ratio increased by 1% .To control for the endogeneity problem, the study used a generalized method of moments estimator, and the results confirm the previous results of the FE. Moreover, the negative impact of economic growth and natural resources was found to be valid and significant, while urbanization and trade openness were found to significantly and positively affect both financial development proxies. The main conclusion of the study is that GCC countries should take action in building an effective joint information system to help construct efficient economic sectors.

Does artificial intelligence promote energy transition and curb carbon emissions? The role of trade openness

The study's main objective was to investigate the macroeconomic determinants of carbon emissions in transitional economies using panel methods with data ranging from 1996 to 2014. The main data analysis was done using econometric estimation methods such as fixed effects, random effects, pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and the dynamic generalized methods of moments (GMM) approach whilst robustness tests were done under the umbrella term, the lagged independent variable approach. To a larger extent, infrastructural development, economic growth, trade openness, financial development and natural resources were found to have had a significant positive effect on carbon emissions, in line with major theoretical predictions. On the other hand, renewable energy consumption, foreign direct investment, information and communication technology and human capital development were mainly found to have reduced carbon emissions in transitional economies. The results are firmly supported by literature. Transitional economies are therefore urged to increase their use of renewable energy and information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) and implement policies aimed at enhancing human capital development to reduce carbon emissions. Given data availability, future studies must investigate whether other macroeconomic variables mentioned in the empirical literature that they determine carbon emissions are relevant in transitional economies.Keywords: Carbon emissions; Transitional Economies; Panel DataJEL Classifications: P2; P52; B23DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.9362

Although there is a wealth of evidence on the relationship between economic growth and poverty or poverty and information and communication technology (ICT), there are few studies on the interaction between the three factors. The triangle relationship between poverty, information and communication technology, and economic growth in SADC were investigated in this study from 2005 to 2019. The research looked at how ICT and economic growth impact poverty in SADC countries, using the instruments of the Mean-Group FMOLS, Mean-Group DOLS, and Robustness Mean-Group Estimators in achieving its major objective. The principal component analysis was employed in generating a single index value for ICT and the data were subjected to relevant econometric tests to achieve robust results. Findings showed that all the variables exhibited poverty-reducing effects in SADC except inflation. Results confirm the existence of the “leapfrogging” hypothesis for the region. It is necessary to strengthen existing bilateral links among member nations of the area to maintain the benefits of ICT’s poverty-reducing impacts, economic growth, financial development, and trade openness. As applicable in other advanced and some emerging economies, the digital competence of the region needs to be synchronized for effective ICT service delivery.

This study contributes to the extant literature on the nexus between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and agriculture. Despite increasing attention on the subject, existing studies are sparse on the channels through which ICTs affect the agricultural sector. We use a stochastic impact model extended to the population, affluence and technology regression model to assess both the impact and transmission of ICTs on agriculture in 18 sub-Saharan African countries. The empirical results show that ICT use measured by the internet, mobile and fixed-line telephone penetration boosts the agricultural sector enormously. In addition, the mediation analysis reveals that ICTs not only have a direct positive effect on agriculture but also a positive indirect effect through their impact on financial development and trade openness and a negative indirect effect through energy consumption. However, the total effect is positive and shows that ICTs are supporting the development of the agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa. To enhance the positive effects of ICTs on agriculture, governments should design policies to improve access to credit for the private sector, promote liberalization, and provide financial incentives for the development of green and less expensive agricultural technologies. This study contributes to the extant literature by assessing the effect of ICT on the agricultural sector with particular emphasis on transmissions mechanisms.

This study is to examine the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and financial development in the Turkish economy during the period of 1986–2018. By empirical literature, economic growth, technological innovation, and financial globalization are added to the financial development model as explanatory variables. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and Hatemi-J cointegration test with two structural breaks are applied to examine the presence of cointegration between the variables. Dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), fully modified least squares (FMOLS), and canonical cointegrating regression (CCR) estimation techniques are applied for long-term estimates. The vector error correction model (VECM) Granger causality approach is used for causality analysis. Our empirical results show that under the structural break, ICT, economic growth, technological innovation, and financial globalization are cointegrated with financial development. In the presence of a structural break, ICT and technological innovation negatively affect financial development, while economic growth and financial globalization have a positive impact on financial development. The causality analysis determines that there is a one-way causality relationship running from ICT and economic growth to financial development. In addition, technological innovation and financial globalization lead to long-term financial development. Empirical findings have important policy recommendations for financial development in the Turkish economy.

This study explored the influence of information and communication technology (ICT) on carbon emissions in emerging markets using panel data analysis methods (fixed effects, random effects, pooled OLS, FMOLS) with annual secondary data spanning from 1994 to 2014. Additionally, the study investigated whether financial development and economic growth are channels through ICT has an influence on carbon emissions. Without interaction terms, ICT was found to have had a significant positive influence on carbon emissions across all the four panel data analysis methods. After introducing interaction terms, financial development was found to be a channel through which ICT increased carbon emissions under the fixed effects, random effects and the FMOLS. Under the pooled OLS, financial development was found to be a channel through ICT enabled the reduction in carbon emissions. Economic growth was found to be a channel through ICT lowered down carbon emissions in emerging markets across all the four panel data analysis methods.

How does information and communication technology affect energy security? International evidence

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been hailed as potentially valuable tools for educational change and reform. When properly used, various ICTs are said to help increase access to education, boost the relevance of education to the increasingly digital workplace, improve the quality of education and raise educational standards. The present study was conducted to find out the impact of ICT on the agricultural education of University students. Two hundred thirty-five students were selected based on the proportion to the size of the population from four SAUs. The impact of ICTs on the students was measured based on the major purpose served by ICT enabled instructional process i.e., its impact on Research (Thesis/Dissertation/Article), Preparing and keeping up-to-date subject information, or Seminar/Workshop/Conference, Assignment and Project, Data Analysis, and Concept understanding.Each purpose was further analyzed based on three quality/attributes of ICTs in the educational process i.e., Time-saving, Accuracy, and Ease. Each of these attributes was measured in a five-point continuum of agreement-disagreement. Close to half (49.4%) of the students strongly agreed, with the impact of ICTs on the time-saving aspect for research (Thesis/Dissertation/Article) purpose, 41.27 per cent of the students agreed, with the impact of ICTs on time-saving for Preparing and keeping up-to-date subject information,34.9 per cent of the students strongly agreed, with the impact of ICTs on time-saving for the Seminar/Workshop/Conference purpose, 39.6 per cent of the students strongly agreed with the impact of ICTs on time-saving for Assignment and Project purpose, 51.10 per cent of the students strongly agreed, with the impact of ICTs on time-saving for Data Analysis, On time-saving for Concept understanding it is seen that the majority (30.60%) of the students agreed, with the impact of ICTs.

This study aims to investigate the effects of information and communication technology (ICT), energy consumption, economic growth, and financial development on carbon dioxide emissions using 1993–2013 panel data from 12 Asian countries. The study employs a panel unit root test accounting for the presence of cross-sectional dependence and found that Internet usage is stationary and carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, gross domestic production (GDP), and financial development are first-difference stationary. The results form Pedroni panel cointegration test confirms that the variables are cointegrated. The results of the cointegration test indicate that the ICT-energy-GDP-carbon dioxide emissions nexus has long-run equilibrium. Both energy consumption and GDP have significant, positive impacts on carbon dioxide emissions; energy consumption and GDP have an effect on carbon dioxide emissions growth. ICT has a significantly negative effect on carbon dioxide emissions; the promotion of ICT becomes one of the important strategies introduced to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions for various countries. Causality results show that energy consumption, GDP, and financial development cause more carbon dioxide emissions. Energy consumption, GDP, and carbon dioxide emissions cause ICT. GDP causes financial development, whereas energy consumption and GDP are interdetermined. The feedback hypothesis exists in the region; those countries need to develop alternative energy to replace fossil fuels. ICT does not threaten the environment and ICT policy can be seen as a part of carbon dioxide emissions reduction policy.

Could trade protectionism reshape the nexus of energy-economy-environment? Insight from different income groups

The non-linear relationship between ICT diffusion and financial development