How does digital government affect natural resource sustainability? A global perspective

Abstract

Digital government is essential for modernizing public administration, enhancing citizen services, boosting government productivity, and encouraging transparency and citizen involvement. It plays a critical role in improving the management of natural resource rents by promoting transparency, accountability, and responsible governance. However, empirical evidence on the impact of digital government on natural resource rents is lacking. To plug this vacuum into the literature, the analysis tries to study the impact of digital government on natural resource rent from 2003 to 2021 by collecting data across many economies and dividing the data into five samples: Global, Asian, American, European, and African. For empirical analysis, the study utilizes the 2SLS and GMM techniques. The analysis's main findings indicate that digital government escalates natural resource rent globally in Asia, America, and Europe. Likewise, human capital and financial development also help to advance natural resource rent. Further, the trade causes the natural resource rent to rise globally in Asia, America, Europe, and the African model, while technology promotes natural resource rent in Global, American, and European models. In contrast, external conflict causes the natural resource rent to fall globally in America and Europe. From these findings, the study infers that policymakers should increase the role of digitalization in governance-related activities, particularly in the natural resource sector.