Government Regulatory Quality Research Articles

Dynamic effects of energy aid in energy transition under the moderating role of the government's regulatory quality

Energy aid to Asia Pacific countries seems attractive for decarbonization and renewable energy transition. However, no clear picture has been drawn on the synergetic connections between the energy aid and the transition to renewable energy in the Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) paradigm. Therefore, this study is designed to fill this gap by examining the energy aid and its response to energy transition, measuring it with four sub-indicators of SDG7. Using a robust econometric framework, the empirical findings indicated that total energy aid has substantial potential in transitioning to renewable energy, and the link is more pronounced with energy policy aid and renewable energy aid in the Asia Pacific. The response of energy aid through the moderating effect of government regulatory quality on energy transition is also strong. These results carried similar signs and magnitude across the regional panels, estimates with multiple estimators, including asymmetric analysis, making the results robust for theoretical foundations. The novel findings from this study have scope for policymakers to design a practical policy roadmap for the transition of renewable energy to reach a carbon-neutral globe.

Do regulatory affairs, political stability, and renewable energy demand improve environmental quality? Perceptive from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation region

The contemporary era confronts formidable obstacles, including environmental deterioration and energy consumption, which jeopardize the rapid advancement of the worldwide financial system. The hazards mentioned above encompass depletion of natural resources, eutrophication, and climatic catastrophes. Within this framework, the discourse surrounding strategic planning centers on institutional positioning and economic prospects, with the incorporation of alternative energy resources serving as a significant metric of economic advancement, as underscored by the COP26 objectives. This research examines the correlation between the quality of institutions and environmental quality, as measured by carbon emissions. A fixed effect regression methodology was utilized to estimate the relationship, utilizing panel data from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation economies covering the period from 1990 to 2021. The results show that if there is a 1% increase in the government regulatory quality and renewable energy, carbon emissions decrease by −0.102% and −1.125%, respectively, underscores institutions’ significance in advancing sustainable growth policies within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation region. Moreover, if there is a 1% increase in political instability, inbound foreign direct investment, and economic growth, carbon emissions increase by 0.199%, 0.042%, and 0.129%, respectively, suggesting the presence of rent-seeking conduct and pollution haven hypothesis, adversely affecting the ecological system. The study offers significant perspectives for policymakers who aim to foster sustainable regional development.

Remittance inflows and financial development in Sub-Saharan African countries: Does governance matter?

BackgroundThe surge in remittances in most sub-Saharan African countries motivated this study to establish whether remittance inflows enhance financial development and whether governance plays any significant mediating role in the nexus between financial development and remittance inflows. PurposeThe study examines the impact of remittance inflows on bank-based financial development in 26 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries using three proxies of bank-based financial development. The study also examines whether government regulatory quality and effectiveness modulate the impact of remittance on bank-based financial development. MethodThe generalised method of moments (GMM) estimation technique is used to examine this linkage. ResultsThe results show that when financial development is proxied by liquid liabilities and bank deposits, remittance inflow is found to have an unconditional positive impact on bank-based financial development, while governance is found to reinforce the positive relationship between remittance and financial development. However, when financial development is proxied by deposit money bank assets, remittance is found to have no profound effect on bank-based financial development, but it was found to interact with government effectiveness to yield a positive influence on financial development. ConclusionOverall, remittance inflows were found to have an overwhelming positive impact on the banking sector development. It was also found that good governance generally tends to reinforce the positive impact of remittances on banking sector development. NoveltyThis study adds value to the extant literature by providing answers to the role that governance plays in enhancing the impact of remittances on financial development in sub-Saharan African countries.

Does China’s direct investment in ASEAN have institutional preference from the perspective of investment motivation heterogeneity?

Location choice for outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is key to companies’ strategic decision-making on internationalization. We provide a comprehensive framework for Chinese companies selecting OFDI locations based on an eclectic (OLI) paradigm and neo-institutional economics. We reveal that investment motivation and host country’s quality of institutions and bilateral institutional distance play interactive, complex roles in China’s location choice for direct investment in ASEAN. Chinese companies prefer investing in ASEAN countries with better institutional quality, especially higher political stability, absence of violence/terrorism, government regulatory quality, and rule of law. Institutional quality significantly promotes market-seeking, efficiency-seeking, and resource-seeking investments; among institutional quality factors, rule of law and corruption control significantly promote market-seeking, resource-seeking, and efficiency-seeking investments, while regulatory quality and government effectiveness significantly promote market-seeking and efficiency-seeking investment. The better the host country’s institutional quality, the more attractive it is for market-seeking and efficiency-seeking investments, but less for resource-seeking investments.

Formation and evolution of the non-traditional security discourse

Promoting security has a broad definition of ensuring functional integrity and preserving the independent identity of states and societies. The bipolar era dominated the conventional military-political approach to ensuring the security of nations. Since the end of the Cold War, non-traditional threats have taken an important place in the political agenda of the world. Many issues with non-traditional security threats are considered the results of global trends, where globalization is an objective process that makes the world more interconnected and interdependent. Nowadays most national and global security agendas contain vast areas of sustainable development. They cover various non-traditional matters in political, economic, social, and environmental spheres, such as climate change, energy security, freedom of speech, human rights, rule of law, government regulatory quality, trade and economic stability, research, and development, and so on. This paper explores major definitions and gives a broad introduction to non-traditional security and introduction to its schools of thought within the broad political science discipline