The Role of ICTs on Innovation Process of Environment and Energy Convergence

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) play a vital role in innovation. ICTs facilitate innovation and boost the potential to generate innovative goods in developing countries. This article examined the heterogeneous impact of institutional quality and ICTs on environmental convergence (i.e., per capita <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2\ $</tex-math></inline-formula> emissions, forestry area) and per capita energy consumption across various developing countries from 1991 to 2019. Interestingly, we compared the differential effects of institutional quality and ICTs on per capita <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2\ $</tex-math></inline-formula> emissions, forestry area, and per capita energy consumption convergence in a disaggregated manner. The panel quantile regression method is then used to assess the absolute and conditional <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">β</i> -convergence quantile distribution of the study variables by controlling lower-middle-income and low-income countries. According to the conditional convergence results, lower-middle-income countries have the largest per capita <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2\ $</tex-math></inline-formula> emission, forestry area, and per capita energy convergence rates relative to low-middle-income countries. Additionally, institutional quality increases the per capita <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2\ $</tex-math></inline-formula> emissions, forestry area, and per capita energy consumption convergence in the selected developing countries. Our findings support the hypothesis that ICTs facilitate innovation and boost the potential of low- and middle-income countries to generate innovative goods. Our results show that it is important for developing countries to implement institutional policy adjustments and ICTs that focus on improving their environmental standards.