Global Panel Research Articles

Vision and reality of e-government for governance improvement: Evidence from global cross-country panel data

Leveraging e-government development to improve all aspects of governance has become a shared vision of governments in the digital age. However, the internal mechanism for e-government development to promote governance is ambiguous, and the extent to which e-government affects governance remains uncertain. Drawing on public value theory, this study analyzes the internal mechanism behind global e-government promoting governance improvement. To determine the realistic effects of e-government in governance improvement, empirical test included 170 countries and covered observations from 2010 to 2018. Results of the linear panel data analysis showed that the development of e-government promoted governance improvement as a whole. Specifically, the effects of e-government on different dimensions of governance were heterogeneous: E-government performs strong positive effects on the four governance dimensions of voice and accountability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality and rule of law, but relatively weak effects on political stability and absence of violence/terrorism and the control of corruption. These results indicate a certain gap remains between the vision and the reality of using e-government to comprehensively improve governance. This study provided insights into the future trends and priorities of global e-government.

Wealth Inequality and Institutional Development: Macroeconometric Evidence from a Global Sample

Abstract This paper examines the empirical relationship between institutions, particularly financial institutions, and wealth inequality using a global panel data set for the period 2010–2016. We conduct a dynamic econometric analysis of these relationships based on the Credit Suisse and World Bank data. Our results reveal that control of corruption and government effectiveness do not have statistically significant effects on wealth inequality. However, the findings indicate an unfavourable effect of domestic credit on wealth inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient for wealth. The long-run effect of domestic credit is persistent and cumulates over time. We also find evidence of relationships between wealth inequality on one hand, and inflation rate, employment in agriculture and government expenditure on the other. The findings imply that policy makers need to re-examine the role and rules in the financial intermediation sector to address the issue of wealth inequality and equal opportunities.

Large Field Screening for Resistance to Broomrape (Orobanche crenata Forsk.) in a Global Lentil Diversity Panel (GLDP) (Lens culinaris Medik.).

Broomrape (Orobanche crenata Forsk.) is a serious problem causing important losses to lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) production and productivity in Mediterranean countries. Despite intensive breeding activities, no resistance sources against O. crenata have been identified so far. In this study, a Global Lentil Diversity Panel (GLDP) of 1315 genotypes including local populations, landraces, accessions, improved lines and released varieties were evaluated for their resistance to O. crenata under highly infested field conditions at ICARDA Marchouch research station, Morocco. The trial was conducted according to an augmented design with repeated susceptible checks. The best-performing genotypes were selected based on the correlations between Orobanche infestation parameters and agronomic performance. Results showed significant variation (p < 0.005) among the studied genotypes and between the tested genotypes and checks for BY, D2F, D2M, PH, EODW and NEO. Out of the 1315 tested genotypes, only (1%) showed high to moderate resistance levels to O. crenata. Most of these genotypes are improved lines originating from different breeding programs. the PCA analysis clustered all the tested genotypes into four different groups. Good resistance levels were recorded for the genotypes ILL7723, ILL 7982, ILL 6912, ILL 6415, ILL 9850, ILL 605, ILL 7915, ILL 1861 and ILL 9888 showing a parasitism index and grain yield ranging from 1.69 to 5.99 and 10.97 to 60.19 g m-2, respectively. Person's correlation showed significant negative correlations between agronomic traits and infestation parameters. Both the path and spatial analysis showed that the D2F, NEO, D2OE, SEV and parasitism index (PI) were the strongest driver traits that influenced the seed yield (SY).

Environmental degradation and economic growth: Investigating linkages and potential pathways

Concerns about the incessant rise in emissions and their attendant effects on climate change, which is ravaging the globe, are on the ascendency. The literature has almost concluded that economic activities and growth contribute significantly to environmental degradation. Despite the plethora of studies on the effect of economic growth on environmental degradation, empirical studies examining the reverse – i.e., how environmental degradation affects economic growth – are limited. However, the associated literature postulates that attaining economic growth is accompanied by increased environmental degradation. To guide the development of non-conflicting environmental and structural policies, this study examines whether the rise in environmental degradation is associated with economic growth. It also examines the potential channels through which environmental degradation could affect economic growth. Using a global panel comprising 140 countries from 1980 to 2021 and the two-step dynamic system-generalized method of moment technique to control endogeneity, the findings generally indicate a retarding effect of environmental degradation on economic growth. Further analysis, however, reveals that emissions exhibit an inverted U-shaped relationship with economic growth. However, ecological footprint indicators of environmental degradation have a U-shaped relationship with economic growth. Pathway analysis highlighted that health, foreign direct investment, and technological innovation are the potential channels through which environmental degradation could retard economic growth. The policy implications are discussed.

Dynamic common correlation effects of financial development, foreign direct investment, market size and trade openness on domestic investment: an income-level prognosis

PurposeThe study examined the impact of financial development, foreign direct investment, market size and trade openness on domestic investment for 119 countries divided into four panels that are low-income countries (LIC), lower middle-income countries (LMIC), upper middle-income countries (UMIC) and high-income countries (HIC) between 1995 and 2019.Design/methodology/approachThe present study bases its empirical procedure on the bases of the data mix. To this end, based on the presence of cross-sectional dependence, covariate-augmented Dickey–Fuller unit root and Westerlund cointegration second-generation tests were employed to validate the stationarity and cointegration of the variables, respectively. The novel Dynamic Common Correlation Effects estimator was employed to estimate the heterogeneous parameters while the Dumitrescu and Hurlin test was used to test for causality direction of the highlighted variables.FindingsThe empirical results show that market size and trade openness had a positive and statistically significant effect on domestic investment for all the income groups. Results also show that financial development had a positive and statically significant effect on domestic investment only for LMIC and HIC economies, while a positive and statistically insignificant effect was obtained for LIC, UMIC and the global panel. The causality results revealed a bidirectional relationship between domestic investment and the exogenous variables – financial development, foreign direct investment, market size and trade openness.Research limitations/implicationsIt is therefore, recommended that LIC and LMIC need to consider harmonising the financial system to lower credit limitations and adopt business-friendly policies. HIC and UMIC should seek more outward FDI policies and harmonise their trade policy, to reap more benefits from FDI and international trade.Originality/valueOn novelty, previous studies have been criticised for the effect on technical innovation of bank financing and institutional quality. This research tackles the deficiency using systematic institutional quality indicators and by taking other variables into account.

Decarbonization through carbon intensity mitigation: evidence from global and income-based panels

Along with emission reduction targets, carbon abatement policies increasingly target the reduction of carbon intensity. In this context, uncovering factors that reduce carbon intensity is a timely research subject and carries significant policy implications. The goal of this study is to explore the dynamic relationships between carbon and energy intensity, renewable energy, economic development, structural transformation, and globalization in a global panel comprising 126 countries and two income-based subpanels. Robust System-GMM estimators indicate that increasing renewable sources in the energy mix can assist countries in mitigating the carbon intensity of electricity generation. Moreover, current results highlight that economic growth is the most effective mitigating factor of carbon intensity at the global level, revealing that on average, countries have managed to decouple economic and pollution (carbon intensity) growth. Results document these links both in the short-and, most importantly, the long-run setting. Other important results reveal that the mitigating effect of renewable energy is stronger with the increase of economic development, whereas structural transformation only decreases carbon intensity in low- and middle-income countries. Consequently, consistent long-term climate policies that promote these mitigating factors and decrease documented driving factors such as energy intensity could work synergistically across multiple SDGs of the 2030 Agenda.

Treatment System Adaptations during War: Lessons from Ukrainian Addiction Treatment Providers

Background: The war in Ukraine has posed significant challenges to the healthcare system. This paper draws upon expert consultations, held between December 2022 and February 2023, focused on HIV/AIDS, addiction, and mental health service delivery during the first year of this war, and following the Global Mental Health Humanitarian Coalition panel discussion in May 2022. Objectives: This commentary presents the experiences of frontline healthcare workers in Ukraine, challenges, and local adaptations to meet the increased mental health needs of healthcare providers. We aimed to document the adaptations made in the addiction healthcare system and to acknowledge the changes in vulnerabilities and lessons learned. Results: Burnout among healthcare providers delivering addiction, HIV/AIDS and mental health services became more visible after the second half of 2022. Challenges included increased workload, contextual threats, lack of job relocation strategies, and money-follow-the-patient policies. Recommendations: The lessons from the first year of war in Ukraine hold significant generalizability to other contexts. These include enabling bottom-up approaches to tailoring services and allowing healthcare providers to respond to the dynamics of war in an effective and active manner. Other recommendations include departmental-specific resources and strategies, particularly as vulnerable groups and challenges are unstable in humanitarian contexts. Conclusions: Globally and in Ukraine, healthcare workers need more than applause. Along with monetary incentives, other strategies to prevent burnout, ensure sustainable capacity building, job relocation opportunities, and bespoke adaptations are imperative to protect healthcare providers’ wellbeing and overall public health.

Dynamics of group grievances from a global cohesion perspective

Grievances are vulnerable to state development and harmony; however, some factors provoke the masses and groups to vulnerability and state fragility (SF) by disturbing social cohesion. Under the grievance assumptions on the political process, this study has been designed to gauge the nexus of group grievances (GG), an essential parameter of social cohesion, institutional governance (IG), government legitimacy (GL), economic growth (EcG), and population growth (POPG) from the global perspective from 2008 to 2022 in a global panel of 158 countries considering the critical aspect of SF. The statistics reveal that PS is essential in controlling and managing the GG in the state. PS is the most significant factor in harmonizing the state's ethnic minorities, focus, and religious groups with stable policies and their grievances issues. It also states that apart from PS, another aspect of IG, Control of Corruption (CoC), helps mitigate malpractices and provides a transparent environment supporting grievances. It further demonstrates that EcG provokes grievances instead of lessening them among the key groups in the state, especially in the processing of industrialization. Because of the government's partiality to provide benefits to specific groups or sectors, that partiality and injustice hype the grievances among the public. Moreover, POPG is also a significant factor in increasing GG, along with government illegitimacy and untrust. The study concludes that to make the country agile and prosperous, the government should balance developing industrialization without compromising agricultural and domestic industries. It helps states gain public trust in the IG framework and GL. The government should harmonize its policies by tackling all minorities, ethnic, and religious groups coherently to maintain social cohesion in the country. Finally, One of the significant factors in natural resources and the scarcity of global resources is population. It stated that prudent population control measures better assist in resource scarcity and conflict management, such as in EU countries compared to Asia and Africa. Recent grievance movements in Brazil, China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the US, are the practical application of this study because these countries fall in the list of the top 10 most populous countries. So, population control policies should be effectively implemented to support economic and social parity and mitigate GG.

Giant oil discoveries and conflicts

This study investigates the effects of oil discoveries on conflict. We propose that the effects from oil discoveries may differ depending on types of conflicts, mainly interstate versus intrastate. Using a measure for oil discoveries for a global panel of countries between 1970 and 2012, we find a positive association between oil discoveries and both conflict types, controlling for other conflict determinants and unobserved heterogeneity. However, we observe that the effects on intrastate conflicts are evident within a year of discovering the oil, while the effects on interstate conflicts only become evident after five years of the discovery. We also find that within intrastate conflicts, the results are mainly driven by the effects on ethnic conflicts. The findings imply that there may be different mechanisms at play for interstate versus intrastate conflicts related to resource discoveries. For example, resource-induced inequality can aggravate already existing tensions between groups in society, which can result in internal conflict soon after discovering the resource. On the other hand, the feasibility of engaging in conflict with a neighbouring resource-rich country depends on fighting capacity and mobilising resources, which can delay interstate conflicts. Overall, we believe the results from this study will provide some further understanding to the dynamics involving natural resources and types of conflict.

Greenness ratings and green bond liquidity

Using a global panel dataset of 3,496 green bonds and conducting regressions, we find a positive relationship between greenness ratings from second-party opinions (SPOs) and green bond liquidity. Green bonds from corporate and municipal issuers with a greenness rating show higher liquidity than green bonds without a greenness rating. For financial institutions and other public issuers besides municipalities, we find no effect of greenness ratings on green bond liquidity.

Genome-Wide Association Study for Root Morphology and Phosphorus Acquisition Efficiency in Diverse Maize Panels.

Maximizing soil exploration through modifications of the root system is a strategy for plants to overcome phosphorus (P) deficiency. Genome-wide association with 561 tropical maize inbred lines from Embrapa and DTMA panels was undertaken for root morphology and P acquisition traits under low- and high-P concentrations, with 353,540 SNPs. P supply modified root morphology traits, biomass and P content in the global maize panel, but root length and root surface area changed differentially in Embrapa and DTMA panels. This suggests that different root plasticity mechanisms exist for maize adaptation to low-P conditions. A total of 87 SNPs were associated to phenotypic traits in both P conditions at -log10(p-value) ≥ 5, whereas only seven SNPs reached the Bonferroni significance. Among these SNPs, S9_137746077, which is located upstream of the gene GRMZM2G378852 that encodes a MAPKKK protein kinase, was significantly associated with total seedling dry weight, with the same allele increasing root length and root surface area under P deficiency. The C allele of S8_88600375, mapped within GRMZM2G044531 that encodes an AGC kinase, significantly enhanced root length under low P, positively affecting root surface area and seedling weight. The broad genetic diversity evaluated in this panel suggests that candidate genes and favorable alleles could be exploited to improve P efficiency in maize breeding programs of Africa and Latin America.

Patterns and correlates of nutrition knowledge across five countries in the 2018 international food policy study

BackgroundNutrition knowledge is an important determinant of diet-related behaviour; however, the use of disparate assessment tools creates challenges for comparing nutrition knowledge levels and correlates across studies, geographic contexts, and populations. Using the Food Processing Knowledge (FoodProK) score – a measure of nutrition knowledge based on consumers’ ability to understand and apply the concept of food processing in a functional task – nutrition knowledge levels and associated correlates were assessed in five countries.MethodsAdults, aged ≥18 years, were recruited through the Nielsen Consumer Insights Global Panel in Australia (n = 3997), Canada (n = 4170), Mexico (n = 4044), the United Kingdom (UK) (n = 5363), and the United States (US) (n = 4527). Respondents completed web-based surveys in November–December 2018. Functional nutrition knowledge was measured using the FoodProK score. Linear regression models examined associations between FoodProK score and sociodemographic, dietary behaviours, and knowledge-related characteristics.ResultsFoodProK scores (maximum, 8 points) were highest in Canada (mean: 5.1) and Australia (5.0), followed by the UK (4.8), Mexico (4.7), and the US (4.6). Health literacy and self-rated nutrition knowledge were positively associated with FoodProK scores (p < .001). FoodProK scores were higher among those who reported vegetarian/other dietary practices (p < .001); made efforts to consume less sodium, trans fats, or sugars (p < .001); ≥60 years (p = 0.002), female (p < .001), and ‘majority’ ethnic group respondents in their respective countries (p < .001).ConclusionsThis study found differences in consumers’ ability to distinguish levels of food processing for common foods, with somewhat lower levels of nutrition knowledge in countries with the highest intake of highly processed foods. Nutrition knowledge differences based on consumer characteristics highlight the need for accessible policy interventions that support uptake of healthy eating efforts across populations to avoid exacerbating nutrition-related disparities. Tools such as the FoodProK can be used to evaluate the impact of policies targeting nutrition knowledge across contexts.

Ecological footprint in a global perspective: the role of domestic investment, FDI, democracy and institutional quality

PurposeThe continuous increase in the negative gap between biocapacity and ecological footprint has remained globally persistent since early 1970. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of foreign capital, domestic capital formation, institutional quality and democracy on ecological footprint within a global panel of 101 countries from 1995 to 2017.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical procedure is based on data mix. To this end, this study uses a battery of testing and estimation approaches both conventional (no cross-sectional dependence [CD]) and novel approaches (accounting for CD). Among the battery of estimation techniques used, there are the dynamic ordinary least square, the mean group, the common correlation effect mean group technique, the augmented mean group technique, the Pooled mean group and the dynamic common correlation effect technique with the desire to obtain outcomes robust to heteroskedasticity, endogeneity, cross-correlation and CD among others.FindingsThe estimated outcomes indicate that using different estimators’ domestic capital formation consistently degrades the environment through an increase in ecological footprint, while institutional quality consistently enhances the quality of the environment. Further, the outcome reveals that, though foreign capital inflow degrades the environment, the time period is essential, as it shows a short-run environmental improvement and a long-run environmental degradation. Democratic activities show a mixed outcome with short-run degrading effect and a long-run enhancement effect on environmental quality.Practical implicationsGreen investment should be the policy target of all economies, and these policies should be adopted to target both domestic capital and foreign capital alike. Second, the adoption of democratic practices will produce good leaders that will not just design short-term policies to blindfold the populace temporary but those that will produce long-term-oriented practices that will better and enhance the quality of the environment through the reduction of the global footprint. Equally, enhancing the institutional framework like respect for the rule of law in matters of abatement should be encouraged.Originality/valueAlthough much research on the role of macroeconomic indicators on environmental quality has been done this far, democratic practices, intuitional quality and domestic capital have been given little attention. This research fills this gap by considering robust empirical techniques.

Assessing the spillover effects of research and development and renewable energy on CO2emissions: international evidence.

The primary motivation of this paper is the lack of consensus on the impact of renewable energy (RE) and research and development (R&D) expenditure on CO2emissions in the literature. Current literature has mostly ignored the spillover effect of R&D on CO2emissions by increasing the intensity effect of technology, leading to biased results. Further, little is known about the impact of previous epidemics on CO2emissions. This study fills these gaps by evaluating the spillover effects of RE and R&D on CO2emissions in a global panel of54countries from2003to2017. Using a two-way time- and spatial-fixed-effects panel analysis, we find both income-induced and scale effects of economic growth are present in our panel, though the scale effect is the dominant one. Our findings indicate that economic growth increases CO2emissions at a decreasing rate, validating the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis, and that urbanization and foreign trade worsen the environment. We also find that epidemic episodes before COVID-19had a nonsignificant impact on CO2emissions internationally. More importantly, our results confirm the presence of both the intensity and scale effects of R&D, with the intensity effect being the dominant one. We find overwhelming evidence that global R&D investment led to an overall (direct plus spillover) reduction of CO2emissions, driven by its spillover effect, through two channels: RE and economic growth. Finally, we find that RE installations assist with reducing CO2emissions internationally, though RE composition and state of R&D can lead to different findings. Our findings have significant policy implications for sustainable development. Our RE and R&D-spillover results support the policy recommendation of shifting to high-tech clean energy sources.

A thousand-genome panel retraces the global spread and adaptation of a major fungal crop pathogen

Human activity impacts the evolutionary trajectories of many species worldwide. Global trade of agricultural goods contributes to the dispersal of pathogens reshaping their genetic makeup and providing opportunities for virulence gains. Understanding how pathogens surmount control strategies and cope with new climates is crucial to predicting the future impact of crop pathogens. Here, we address this by assembling a global thousand-genome panel of Zymoseptoria tritici, a major fungal pathogen of wheat reported in all production areas worldwide. We identify the global invasion routes and ongoing genetic exchange of the pathogen among wheat-growing regions. We find that the global expansion was accompanied by increased activity of transposable elements and weakened genomic defenses. Finally, we find significant standing variation for adaptation to new climates encountered during the global spread. Our work shows how large population genomic panels enable deep insights into the evolutionary trajectory of a major crop pathogen.

EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION AND THE GREEN ECONOMY: THE KEY ROLE OF ECONOMIC RISK

As countries propose to develop their green economy strategies to achieve sustainable development goals, many researchers and practitioners have analyzed the various factors affecting this special economy and how export diversification impacts the environment. However, there is limited knowledge about the link between export diversification and the green economy. Thus, this research study explored the impact of such diversification on the green economy by considering the role of economic risk. A new dynamic panel threshold approach was applied to the global panel data of 112 countries from 1995 to 2014. The results support the U-shaped correlation between export diversification and the green economy with an increase in economic risk. Export diversification tends to weaken the green economy when economic risk is at lower levels, but it improves the economy after reaching a certain level of economic risk. We also found that the green economy has a persistent effect over time. Under all economic risk levels, the previous level of green economy development promotes current green economy development. These findings thus provide policymakers with crucial implications.

Phenotypic Variability for Root Traits in Andean Common Beans Grown with and without Aluminum Stress Conditions

Genetic variation in wild relatives, GenBank accessions, landraces, and cultivars can unlock key alleles for the traits of interest for breeding programs. Breeding programs often utilize different strategies to quantify the source of heritable variation for target traits. One neglected area of study is the root traits of diverse genotypes, and this is especially the case for aluminum toxicity effects on legumes such as the common bean, which is the most used pulse for direct human consumption. This study evaluated 267 genotypes of common bean that were part of the global Andean Diversity Panel (ADP), consisting mainly of genotypes assembled from public and private breeding programs in Africa and North America, as well as elite lines and land races from the USDA. The ADP was evaluated for root traits at the seedling stage in the Tennessee State University (TSU) greenhouse using a hydroponic system with a standard nutrient solution with and without aluminum (Al). The recorded data on the roots per trial were fit to a linear mixed model for the analysis of variance in order to test for the genotype differences. Adjusted means considered replication and blocks within replication as random effects and genotypes as fixed effects. These were then used for Pearson correlation tests and for principal component analysis (PCA), where the first two vectors accounted for 94.5% and 93% of the explained variation under the control and Al-treatment conditions, respectively. Genotypes were clustered based on the morphology of roots in response to Al-toxicity treatment using the Euclidean distance and Ward’s hierarchical agglomerative clustering method, identifying four distinctive groups significant at p &lt; 0.01. The intra-cluster distance was lower than the inter-cluster distances, which indicated a heterogeneous and homogeneous nature between and within clusters, respectively. The results suggest that crossing between accessions from two of the clusters would result in the maximum genetic segregation. One cluster was found to have a higher Al-toxicity tolerance than the others.

Consensus Statement on the definition and classification of metabolic hyperferritinaemia.

Hyperferritinaemia is a common laboratory finding that is often associated with metabolic dysfunction and fatty liver. Metabolic hyperferritinaemia reflects alterations in iron metabolism that facilitate iron accumulation in the body and is associated with an increased risk of cardiometabolic and liver diseases. Genetic variants that modulate iron homeostasis and tissue levels of iron are the main determinants of serum levels of ferritin in individuals with metabolic dysfunction, raising the hypothesis that iron accumulation might be implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and the related organ damage. However, validated criteria for the non-invasive diagnosis of metabolic hyperferritinaemia and the staging of iron overload are still lacking, and there is no clear evidence of a benefit for iron depletion therapy. Here, we provide an overview of the literature on the relationship between hyperferritinaemia and iron accumulation in individuals with metabolic dysfunction, and on the associated clinical outcomes. We propose an updated definition and a provisional staging system for metabolic hyperferritinaemia, which has been agreed on by a multidisciplinary global panel of expert researchers. The goal is to foster studies into the epidemiology, genetics, pathophysiology, clinical relevance and treatment of metabolic hyperferritinaemia, for which we provide suggestions on the main unmet needs, optimal design and clinically relevant outcomes.

The Impacts of Economic Growth on Per Capita Consumption-Based Co2 Emission Between China and United States

This paper attempts to investigate the impact of economic growth, population, and energy consumption on consumption-based CO2 emissions for a global panel of China and U.S. with the comparison of two dynamic models, pooled OLS and LSDV, for the period 1990–2016. The empirical evidence indicates significant positive impacts of economic growth and energy consumption and negative effect of population on CO2 emissions for global panels. Besides, it shows the different responsibilities on reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions between developing and developed countries.

The Impact of Financial Development on Renewable Energy Consumption: A Multidimensional Analysis Based on Global Panel Data

In this paper, we examined the impact of financial development on renewable energy consumption from a global perspective based on a dynamic panel model and panel data of 103 economies. We conducted the research from the different levels of financial development using an index system including nine variables, and also explored national heterogeneity by dividing samples into developed economies and developing economies. The empirical results indicated that the financial development had a positive impact on renewable energy consumption from the macro perspective, and this effect was mainly driven by the development of a financial institution (mainly including bank). Further analysis on the depth, access, and efficiency of a financial institution and financial market (mainly including stock market and bond market) revealed that all three aspects of a financial institution had a positive influence on renewable energy consumption, while this effect only existed in the aspect of efficiency for a financial market. The investigation of national heterogeneity showed that the financial development performed well in promoting renewable energy consumption in developed economies, while this positive effect only existed for financial institutions in developing economies. We suggest to policymakers to attach importance to the positive effect of financial development when formulating renewable-energy-related policies, and provide a system guarantee for renewable energy enterprises concerning financial sectors in developing economies.