The controversy of the resource curse and the environment in the SDGs background: The African context

Abstract

In light of the SDGs background launched by the UN organization, this article aims to examine the Resource Curse and the environmental issues for 26 African countries over the time span from 1990 to 2016. We estimate the RCH and EKC models by applying two recent methodologies which called panel FMOLS and DOLS, and the Granger causality test founded on the panel VECM is applied to detect the causality direction. The results point out the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between all variables in the RCH and the EKC model. Moreover, the coefficient on the lagged ECT reveals the presence of a long-run relationship between the variables for RCH for EKC. The highlights pointed out the presence of bi-directional Granger causality among all variables. Our highlights verified well the RCH and EKC hypothesis. Our empirical insights have a set of implications for managing the linkages among these key specifications. The crucial role played by institutional quality over time may help African countries to mitigate the adverse effect of the resources' abundance curse and environmental degradation to achieve the SDGs.