Natural Resource Rents Research Articles

Asymmetric relationship between competitive industrial performance, renewable energy, industrialization, and carbon footprint: Does artificial intelligence matter for environmental sustainability?

Developing nations have emerged as integral contributors to the global economy since the beginning of the 21st century. Their swift economic expansion and associated activities lead to a rise in carbon footprint. Keeping this in view, unlike previous studies, this study unfolds the asymmetric repercussions of competitive industrial performance and renewable energy within the context of the industrialization era in seven Asian developing countries from 1990 to 2020. The panel NARDL and asymmetric panel causality methodologies have been applied for the purpose of nonlinear analysis. According to the results, the advantageous influence of competitive industrial performance is considerably more pronounced than that of industrialization. The coefficient magnitude associated with the negative shock demonstrates a significantly substantial value in comparison to the positive shock concerning the influence of competitive industrial performance on carbon footprint. Both positive and negative changes in competitive industrial performance mitigate carbon footprint. Renewable energy generates favorable consequences by promoting environmental quality via a reduction in carbon footprint. Across various emerging economies in Asia, the rapid rise of industrialization is linked to the deterioration of environmental quality. Finally, artificial intelligence and natural resource rents decrease carbon footprints while information and communication technology intensifies environmental concerns. The research emphasizes the critical nature of integrating artificial intelligence, robotics, and technological industrial competitiveness in order to adequately tackle the carbon footprint in Asian developing countries.

Greening the BRICS: How Green Innovation Mitigates Ecological Footprints in Energy-Hungry Economies

The escalating energy consumption seen in the BRICS countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, presents a substantial environmental problem, resulting in the depletion of resources, amplified carbon emissions, and endangering the well-being of ecological systems. The study examines the potential of green innovation to alleviate these adverse effects. By combining green technology with strong institutions and responsible energy consumption, we argue that the BRICS nations can significantly reduce their ecological footprint. This research, encompassing data from 1995 to 2022, employs Driscoll–Kraay and panel quantile regression to analyze the complex interplay of institutional quality, energy consumption, green innovation, and ecological footprints across the BRICS countries. Our findings reveal that green innovation is crucial in mitigating the ecological footprint, particularly when combined with resilient institutional quality and controlled energy use. Conversely, factors like high energy consumption, natural resource rent, and urbanization contribute to an increased ecological footprint. Notably, the study emphasizes the critical role of both institutional quality and renewable energy consumption in effectively reducing the ecological burden within the BRICS nations. These findings suggest that prioritizing investments in green technology and institutional development, even amidst high energy demands, represents a viable strategy for the BRICS nations to achieve sustainable growth and environmental responsibility.

Navigating the winds of change: Assessing the impact of wind energy innovations and fossil energy efficiency on carbon emissions in China

The purpose of this study is to look at how China's increased use of wind energy and fossil fuel efficiency is affecting the environment. In this direction, novel quantile-based techniques and machine learning algorithm-based approaches are used to examine the effects of real national income, natural resource rent, and trade globalization on carbon emissions, in addition to the technological advancements in wind energy and fossil energy efficiency during the period 2000–2020. According to the averaged findings, carbon emissions are increased by natural resource rent and economic growth. On the other hand, environmental damage is being lessened by trade globalization, wind energy advances, and fossil energy efficiency. Furthermore, quantile-based results show that in the highest quantiles of environmental degradation, wind energy technology has a far stronger mitigating effect. In a similar vein, improving the efficiency of fossil fuels lowers overall carbon emissions, and this decrease becomes more apparent as carbon emissions rise.

The Role of Political Stability in Nine Arab Natural Resource-Abundant Countries (ANRAC) Toward Environmental Sustainability through CO2 Mitigation

This study examines the intricate interplay of political stability, natural resource rent, industrialization, globalization, economic growth, and carbon emissions in nine Arab resource-abundant countries (ANRAC) from 1996 to 2019. Applying advanced statistical approaches, such as the Method of Moment Quantiles Regression (MMQREG) as a baseline estimation approach, along with the inclusion of PCSE, FGLS, and FMOLS, to enhance, to enhance the reliability and stability of the obtained results. The study results suggest that globalization, coupled with the interplay between political stability and economic growth, fosters advancements in environmental conditions and the pursuit of sustainable practices. In contrast, political stability, abundant natural resources, sustained economic expansion, and widespread industrialization are associated with increased CO2 emissions, posing detrimental effects on the environment. Notably, there seems to be a correlation between the concurrent improvement of political stability and economic growth and a reduction in CO2 emissions.

Natural Resource Rents, Manufacturing Trade, and Manufacturing Growth: Evidence from Linear and Nonlinear Regressions for ECOWAS Countries

Natural Resource Rents, Manufacturing Trade, and Manufacturing Growth: Evidence from Linear and Nonlinear Regressions for ECOWAS Countries

How effective are green innovations as a remedy for mineral resource scarcity in the European region?

The relationship between environmental externalities and green innovation is being increasingly explored in the literature but there is no paper exploring the nexus between green innovation (GI) and sustainable development. This article sheds light on the connection between GI and mineral rents from 2007 to 2021. In order to verify our results, we conduct a robustness assessment using a variety of natural resource rents, encompassing coal rents, gas rents, and forest rents. Our research furnishes evidence indicating that the adoption of environmental innovation is poised to curtail the consumption of most mineral resources, with the exception of forest rents in the PCSE and FGLS estimates. While GI does not exhibit statistical significance in the short term, its long-term impact reduce reliance on mineral rents. These findings maintain their robustness and reliability when accounting for endogeneity, fixed effects, and heterogeneity. To illuminate the relationship between institutional quality and mineral rents (MR), we incorporate six different indicators of institutions: voice and accountability (VA), government effectiveness (GE), rule of law (RL), regulatory quality (RQ), political stability and absence of violence/terrorism (PV), and control of corruption (CC). Our findings underscore the fact that integrating GI with institutions diminishes activities associated with mineral rents; from this we provide important policy recommendations for promoting GI development to use mineral resources more efficiently.

Impact of human capital and natural resources on environmental quality in South Asia

AbstractThis study examines the importance of human capital and natural resources on environmental quality in South Asia by using panel data that ranges from 1975 to 2021. Advanced cointegration approaches establish the long-term linkages between human capital, natural resources, economic growth, economic growth squared, urban population, industrial value added, and ecological footprint. To explore the long and short-run association among these variables, this study applied the panel autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) model. The outcome designates that human capital has a negative and significant alliance with environmental quality, whereas economic growth and economic growth square affect environmental quality positively and negatively, confirming the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Urban population growth and natural resources have significant negative associations with environmental pollution, whereas industrial value added increases the pollution levels in South Asia. Lastly, the outcome of the interaction between human capital and natural resource rent on the ecological footprint has a significant positive effect. This study recommends that South Asian nations improve their human capital to promote industrial modernization, expansion of green technology, and energy-efficient habits. Utilizing natural resources also helps South Asian nations maintain a clean ecosystem. Additionally, South Asian nations ought to vigilantly track the negative consequences of industrialization on the atmosphere. Thus, ecological sustainability requires human capital and natural resources.

Transition towards natural resource rents and green technology to achieve China's COP26 success: A novel insights in the case of trade openness and environmental pollution

This study aimed to investigate the impact of various factors such as natural resource rents, trade openness, green technology innovation, oil prices, and economic growth on environmental pollution in China by covering the period from 1970 to 2021, aligning with the COP26 agenda. These factors included. To accomplish this, we utilized an advanced Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lag model to scrutinize the short- and long-term quantile patterns for both the dependent and independent variables. The findings reveal that green technologies and natural resource rents play a negative role in reducing emissions, whereas economic growth and trade openness have positive effects on emissions levels in China in the short and long run during different quantile patterns. Additionally, we employed the Wald test to confirm the presence of asymmetric patterns in environmental pollution concerning economic growth, natural resource rents, green technological innovation, and trade openness in both the short and long terms. These results emphasize the significance of prioritizing key policy measures to align with the COP26 agenda, including enhancing green technology via natural resource rents and addressing immediate climate change challenges in China.

Do natural resources bestow or curse the environmental sustainability in Cambodia? Nexus between clean energy, urbanization, and financial deepening, natural resources, and environmental sustainability

The management and utilization of natural resources can either promote or hinder environmental sustainability. While they can provide the basis for renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and conservation efforts, their extraction and use can also lead to environmental degradation, pollution, and depletion. This study examines the intricate relationship between natural resource rent (NRR) and environmental sustainability in Cambodia. Specifically, the study investigates the impacts of financial openness, institutional quality, financial deepening, and urbanization on this relationship. Employing both symmetric and asymmetric frameworks, the research assesses the explanatory power of these variables on environmental sustainability. Study implemented novel cointegration test offered by Bayer-Hancked and Makki, the long-run and short-run coefficients has derived through the implementation of augmented autoregressive Distributed Lagged (AARDE) and Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lagged (NARDL). The study reveals the long-term association between NRR and environmental indicators, additionally the findings uncover both positive and negative correlations between NRR and environmental sustainability, emphasizing the challenge of managing natural resources effectively. Furthermore, the study highlights the potential adverse environmental effects of financial expansion, suggesting that increased investment in certain industries and higher consumption patterns may exacerbate environmental degradation. It also underscores the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in promoting renewable energy technologies and sustainable practices, ultimately reducing CO2 emissions. Additionally, the study stresses the importance of institutional quality and transparent financial systems in encouraging sustainable practices and mitigating carbon emissions. It advocates for Cambodia to prioritize institutional strength and financial openness to achieve long-term environmental sustainability, while addressing the challenges posed by financial deepening and urbanization.

Ecotourism or ecological concerns? Tracing the impact of economic policy uncertainty and natural resources on tourism-driven ecological footprints.

The influence of tourism development and economic policy uncertainties on environmental sustainability is substantial. Promoting responsible tourism and using sustainable tourism practises, like offering eco-friendly lodging, is a key part of protecting natural habitats and lowering carbon footprints. Hence, this study tries to examine the relationship between tourism development, economic policy uncertainty, renewable energy, and natural resources on the ecological footprint of India during 1990-2022. This study applies a novel dynamic ARDL simulation approach for long-run and short-run analyses. The study also employs frequency-domain causality to check the causal relationship between the variables. The result reveals that tourism has a positive effect on the ecological footprint. Similarly, economic policy uncertainty has a positive and significant effect on the ecological footprint in India during the sample period. Additionally, natural resource rent shows a positive effect on the ecological footprint or deteriorating environmental quality in the short and long run in the sample period. However, renewable energy consumption indicates a negative effect on the ecological footprint. The results reveal that TDI and EPU have rejected the null hypothesis of no Granger cause in the long, medium, and short term. While renewable energy has a causal relationship with ecological footprints in both the long run and medium run, it is imperative for India to adopt measures that facilitate the advancement of sustainable tourism, with a particular focus on promoting environmentally friendly lodging options, enhancing public transportation systems, and implementing effective waste management strategies.

Effects of green energy and productivity on environmental sustainability in BRICS economies: The role of natural resources rents

By developing a theoretical framework, this paper constructs two models for environmental sustainability, each with an ecological footprint and CO2 emissions. The empirical study considers panel data from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) based on the need for consistent economic growth with minimum environmental cost in these five major emerging countries. The data period ranges from 1994 to 2018. According to the findings from several estimation techniques, total factor productivity and renewable energy consumption improve environmental quality. However, natural resources rents and economic growth are detrimental to environmental sustainability. Therefore, it is concluded that the mere blind use of natural resources to achieve economic growth without raising productivity and green energy is ecologically unsustainable. Appropriate policies are discussed to promote the productivity of governments via emerging technologies and digitalisation.

Uplifting India from severe energy poverty accounting for strong asymmetries: Do inclusive financial development, digitization and human capital help reduce the asymmetry?

Securing seamless access to power in emerging territories like India is a prerequisite for attaining steady-state economic development and enhancing societal upliftment. Therefore, policymakers and power stakeholders face the pressing need to identify new factors that can effectively alleviate energy poverty, particularly in the context of increasing financial globalization and digitization. While previous studies have examined the linear relationship between fuel poverty and its determinants, there is a lack of research focusing on the nonlinear association. The present work, therefore, explores the asymmetric consequences of financial development (FD), digitization, and human capital on fuel poverty in India while controlling for the consequences of economic growth (GDP), trade, and natural resource rent. To accomplish this, we adopt innovative methodologies, including Wavelet Quantile Correlation (WQC), Quantile-on-Quantile regression (QQR), and Quantile Causality (QC), leveraging data spanning from 1990Q1 to 2021Q4. The results from WQC and QQR approaches underscore that financial development, human capital, GDP, and digitization share a strong asymmetric association with energy poverty and that excessive financial development and digitization foster energy poverty issues in India. Human capital and trade do not help reduce energy poverty when energy poverty appears to be extreme. However, natural resources help reduce fuel poverty. Our findings corroborate that moderate financial development and digitization growth can help uplift India from this social crisis of fuel poverty. As such, Delhi should focus more on absorbing the negative spillovers induced by augmented financial development and digitization and control for other subsidiary elements that share close contact with financial development and digitization. Besides, Delhi must foster human capital development before the energy poverty issue peaks.

Natural resources, economic complexity and growth nexus: Role of digital governance in addressing the resource curse

The nexus between natural resources and economic growth can be significantly influenced by digital governance. Effective digital governance enhances transparency and efficiency in managing natural resources, reducing the risks of mismanagement and corruption. This can lead to more sustainable economic growth and support economic diversification. Understanding these dynamics is essential for policymakers and researchers aiming for inclusive growth in resource-dependent economies. Therefore, this study explores the relationship between natural resources, economic complexity and economic growth of BRICS countries from 2003 to 2022. It also explores the moderating role of digital governance in realizing the relationship between resources and growth. The research utilizes the Method of Moments Quantile Regression, which accounts for non-linearity and addresses concerns related to slope heterogeneity. The findings reveal that natural resource rents adversely affect economic growth, with a significantly negative impact at the lowest quantiles, while digital governance fosters economic growth at the middle to highest quantiles. The moderating effects of natural resources and digital governance suggest that digital governance helps break the cycle of the resource curse. Countries can enhance the marginal contribution of resources towards growth by increasing the digitalization of their systems and processes. Additionally, economic complexity contributes to higher economic growth, with its impact gradually increasing from lower to upper quantiles. Policymakers should consider digital governance as an effective tool for sustainable development.

Climate mitigation technology for holistic resource management in sub-Saharan Africa: Impact on greenhouse gas emissions

This study investigates the impact of climate change mitigation technologies, specifically agricultural land management and renewable energy consumption and production, on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the period of 1991 to 2015. Our analysis was conducted using an ARDL panel data model with data from 26 countries representing four sub-regions. The results demonstrated that an increase in renewable energy consumption is significantly associated with a decrease in GHG emissions, with a long-term coefficient of -0.422 and a short-term coefficient of -0.757. Additionally, natural resource rents, agricultural land use and population density have a positive impact on greenhouse gas emissions, with coefficients of 0.0605, 0.392 and 0.690, respectively. However, renewable energy production does not have a significant effect on greenhouse gas emissions. This suggests that promoting renewable energy consumption can be an effective way to combat greenhouse gas emissions in the region, and policymakers should implement policies and programs that encourage and facilitate the adoption of renewable energy whilst taking into consideration the impact of agricultural land use. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of promoting renewable energy consumption and managing agricultural land use as a viable approach to combating greenhouse gas emissions in sub-Saharan Africa, and highlights the potential of climate mitigation technology as a tool for regulators to optimize policy development and counter climate change.

How disaggregated natural resources rents affect financial development: From the perspective of sustainable development

Enhancing financial development has emerged as a paramount goal for nations worldwide, reflecting its pivotal role in fostering economic growth, stability, and prosperity. A developed financial system is inevitable for achieving sustainable development in a country. Therefore, it is essential to take measures that promote financial development. Also, promoting financial development entails knowledge of the determinants of financial development. Therefore, the present study intends to investigate whether during the period from 1989 to 2021, whether coal, oil, and natural gas rents have any impact on financial development in China. To that end, we adopt the novel Fourier ARDL modeling. The results claim that oil rent escalates financial development in the long run, while gas and coal rent impede it. On the contrary, oil rent mitigates financial development in the short run, whereas gas and coal rent promote it. Thus, we direct several policy stances to promote financial development.

Role of Remittance on Sustainable Economic Development in Developing and Emerging Economies: New Insights from Panel Cross-Sectional Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag Approach

In this study, we aim to investigate the effects of remittance on sustainable economic development in 52 developing and emerging economies from 1996 to 2021. The study uses other variables such as real GDP per capita, total natural resource rents, globalization, and foreign direct investment. To achieve the mentioned objective, we apply a series of second-generation panel estimation approaches. These include CIPS unit root, Westerlund cointegration, cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL), and robustness using augmented mean group (AMG) and common correlated mean group (CCEMG). These methods are useful provided they are robust towards cross-country dependencies, slope heterogeneity, endogeneity, and serial correlation, which are disregarded in the conventional panel estimations. The empirical findings indicate that remittance accelerates sustainable economic development. Additionally, real GDP per capita and globalization also positively contribute towards sustainable economic development. However, total resource rents deteriorate sustainable economic development. This study offers key policy implications based on the empirical findings for the developing and emerging economies.

Achieving net-zero emission target in Africa: Are sustainable energy innovations and financialization crucial for environmental sustainability of sub-Saharan African state?

Following the rising importance of energy transition in the environmental sustainability discussion, it is imperative to understand the roles of sustainable energy innovations and financialization to reach informed inferences for policy formulation. We examined the environmental quality performance in Sub-Sahara Africa using the case of the resource-rich Ghanaian state vis-à-vis the possible moderating influence of green innovations and financial development. The empirical analysis encompassed various estimation issues, including structural breaks, heteroscedasticity, and normality in data structure. We simulated with the dynamic autoregressive-distributed lag technique and confirmed that financialization, resource rents, and economic growth are significant positive determinants of pollutant emissions. However, green innovations decrease the rate of pollution in the nation. Moreover, the interaction between green innovations and financial development improves ecological quality, while that between natural resources and financial development spurs pollution in the ecosystem. Furthermore, causal connections in the series indicated unidirectional causalities from green innovations, financialization, natural resource rents, and economic growth to pollutant emissions. However, the interactive terms between green innovations and financial development and between natural resource rents and financial development are bi-directionally related to ecological pollution. Hence, the study essentially suggests that the net-zero emission agenda of the Paris Accord is achievable from higher investments in green innovations while harnessing the benefits of international financial flows to boost the sustainability capacity of the Sub-Saharan Ghanian economy.

An integrated perspective on fintech, green innovation and natural resource rent: Evidence from Asia

Countries with abundant natural resources are speculated to have higher carbon discharge levels. Thus, it can be assumed that such countries are likely to face carbon curse issues which come from natural resource consumption. Against this backdrop, identifying potential and effective de-cursing mechanisms is an important task for these nations. Thus, this study is motivated to examine the role of fintech, green innovation, financial and economic development, and natural resources in the per capita CO2 emissions of resource-rich economies. Major Asian economies are chosen as the study sample, and only data from the COVID-19 pandemic period is considered. Method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) is employed to examine the relationships and reveals that financial development and green innovation are both positive indicators of enhanced climate quality at all quantiles. However, natural resource rents and fintech have drastic effects on the sustainable environment as both constructs are responsible for higher emissions. This implies that, in order to build environmentally friendly systems, the innovation levels of industries should be improved, which is possible when green technology innovation is introduced. Green and renewable energy investment must increase to generate funds for low carbon environmental production.

Natural resource‐driven prosperity: Unveiling the catalysts of sustainable economic development in the United States

AbstractAchieving economic progress hinges upon the active and strategic utilization of a nation's inherent resources in economic and financial endeavors. This comprehensive study investigates the intricate dynamics influencing the economic development of the United States, employing a time series dataset spanning from 1991 to 2022. Key factors including total natural resource rents, domestic capital formation, the ‘financial risk index (FRI),’ and the count of patents filed by both domestic and foreign investors. Rigorous statistical analyses, including the ‘Modified Dickey‐Fuller’ test and ‘Bayer‐Hanck cointegration’ strategy, were employed to extract meaningful insights from the data. Addressing concerns related to endogeneity and serial correlation, advanced techniques such as ‘Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares’ and ‘Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares’ were applied. The findings illuminate the pivotal roles played by natural resource rents and domestic capital formation in propelling sustainable economic development in the United States. Notably, this study sheds light on the positive contributions of both domestic and foreign patent filings to the nation's economic trajectory. Furthermore, enhancements in the FRI are identified as catalysts for fostering sustainable economic growth. In essence, our research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by offering nuanced insights into the multifaceted influences shaping the economic landscape of the United States. The results not only underscore the significance of effective resource management and capital formation but also emphasize the positive impact of innovation, represented by patent filings, and improvements in the FRI on the nation's journey towards sustainable economic growth.

Revisiting the relationship between natural resources and environmental quality— can ICT break the “resource curse” in the environment?

Despite the prevalence of discussions on the “resource curse”, the impact of natural resources on environmental quality for better or for worse has not been clearly answered, this study aims to answer the question by introducing the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). To that end, by using the Instrumental Variable Generalized Method of Moments (IV GMM) estimator and a sample of 102 developing and emerging economies from 2006 to 2016, this paper studies the impact of ICT on the relationship between natural resources and environmental quality. Specially, the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) captures the environmental quality. The results show that natural resources have a significant negative effect on EPI, specially, EPI decreases by one unit with a 1% increase in natural resource rents. ICT significantly mitigates this adverse effect, and marginal effects analysis further confirms its positive moderate effects. The results proved to be robust by Lewbel 2SLS and Driscoll-Kraay techniques or other robust tests. It is noteworthy that the adverse effect of natural resources on EPI is greater and the mitigating effect of ICT is more pronounced in low-income countries and lower-middle income countries. Overall, these results remind resource-based countries to vigorously develop ICT, and apply intelligent exploration, digital monitoring, or other digital technologies to realize the high-efficiency use of natural resources, reducing environmental pollution and ecological damage.