Influence of internet and mobile usage on the institutional quality: An environmental perspective

Abstract

Internet and mobile usages require digital tools that became familiar to all of us but whose industries create significant amount of CO2 emissions. The growing importance of communication channels usually enhances the institutional quality but it also generates a gradual increase in activities producing CO2 that, in turn, negatively affect the institutional quality – This embedded relationship led us to study conjointly these aspects in our empirical study. In this context, this article examines the influences of Internet usage, Mobile usage, and CO2 emissions on the institutional quality for a global sample of 87 economies. Through a two-step system GMM estimator, we show that Internet and mobile usage have a significant positive impact on the institutional quality while the CO2 emissions has a significant negative influence. The results are robust across six different institutional indicators and three subsamples including Low and Lower-Middle Income, Upper-Middle Income, and High-Income Economies. Our empirical research explores and discusses the complex influence of Internet and mobile usages on institutional quality through their environmental impacts suggesting that the latter jeopardizes the initial positive impact of Internet/mobile usage on institutional quality.