Nexus In Countries Research Articles

Does official development assistance alleviate the environmental pressures during the urbanization of recipient countries? Evidence from the sub-Saharan Africa countries

Although there are many studies on the urbanization-environment nexus, a few studies are related to the least developed countries. To fill the research gap, the long-term equilibrium of urbanization-environment nexus in 37 sub-Saharan African countries, and the impact of official development assistance on the urbanization-environment nexus in these countries are investigated in this work. To this end, urbanization is set as the explanatory variable, carbon dioxide emissions and ecological footprint are set as the explained variables, and official development assistance is set as the threshold variable. The results of the proposed nonlinear panel regression models show that effect coefficients of urbanization on carbon emissions and ecological footprint are both positive, which means urbanization increases the environmental pressure in these 37 countries. In addition, there are double threshold effects in official development assistance on urbanization-carbon emissions and urbanization-ecological footprint nexus. As assistance crosses the threshold in turn, the promotion effect of urbanization on carbon emissions first increases and then weakens, and the regression coefficient shows an inverted “U” shaped change trend. The contribution of urbanization to ecological footprint decreases with the increase of assistance, and the coefficients show a decreasing trend. This indicates that official development assistance reshapes the urbanization-environment nexus in these sub-Saharan African countries, indicating the official development assistance helps sub-Saharan countries to alleviate environmental pressure in the process of urbanization. Some policy implications are proposed. Recipient countries should make rational use of aid and create favorable conditions for the inflow of foreign capital through their own efforts, so as to improve the level of environmental pollution control. Countries should work together to correctly grasp the development opportunities brought by urbanization, and promote the process of urbanization while ensuring the quality of smart cities to reduce carbon emissions.

Modeling and Optimization of Water–Food–Energy Nexus for Malaysia’s Agricultural Sector

The water–food–energy (WFE) nexus is a strategic system that integrates different separated sectors by using their interconnectedness to reduce trade-offs and allow sustainable development by preventing future resource insecurity. Traditionally, the water, energy, and food sectors operate individually and result in different challenges such as resource scarcity, conflicts in the uses of upstream and downstream hydro systems, and power supply crises due to serious water pollution. Reports so far have only implemented the WFE nexus in countries and cities outside of Malaysia. In addition, there is yet to be a model in literature revolving only on optimizing the agricultural sector’s resources distribution. Hence, this paper aims to develop the first systematic and integrated model for optimal planning of resource allocation in Malaysia’s agricultural sector. The novelty and contribution of this research could be concluded as: (1) multi-objective planning incorporating economic and environmental factors such as economic benefits and carbon emission limit, (2) focusing on the agricultural sector considering geologically-specific crops, livestock, and residents, (3) considering the potential waste recycle systems including wastewater treatment and biomass treatment. The superstructure framework developed based on the case study in Perak, Malaysia aids the implementation of the WFE nexus system locally where trade-offs and synergies between the different sub-units are modelled. From the results, it can be concluded that irrigated paddy crops could contribute to a higher profit compared to palm oil and rubber crops. Thus, future development can be focused on irrigated paddy crops while meeting other constraints and demands to ensure the resources are optimally utilized. The multi-objective optimization solved using MINIMAX algorithm also provides decision-makers with a guideline on how to implement WFE nexus locally in the agricultural sector.

The role of physical and human capital in FDI-pollution-growth nexus in countries with different income groups: A simultaneity modeling analysis

This paper examines the causal links between foreign direct investment (FDI), CO2 emissions, and economic growth in a global panel of 101 countries and four diverse income groups (low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high) countries using the simultaneous equations framework, with data from 1990 to 2014. Considering physical capital and human capital, this is the first time these two determinants have been linked to the FDI-pollution-growth simultaneous equation model. The dependent variables in the three simultaneous equations are inflow of foreign direct investment, CO2 emissions as a proxy for environmental pollution, and real gross domestic product. Three critical inferences can be drawn from the results. First, there is a two-way causal relationship between growth and FDI in the global panel and across all income groups (except for lower-middle-income groups). Likewise, except for high-income countries, there is a two-way causal relationship between FDI and CO2 emissions in the global panel. Second, the results support a one-way causal relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions in the global panel and the income subgroup, but only in the low-middle and high-income groups support the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and pollution haven hypothesis (PHH). Third, the heterogeneous impact of human and physical capital on the environment is genuinely striking: human capital improves its quality while physical capital degrades it. The results suggest that physical and human capital contributes to economic growth and attracts foreign direct investment.

Water-electricity nexus in Ecuador: The dynamics of the electricity's blue water footprint

Freshwater has spatial and temporal constraints, affecting possibilities to generate electricity. Previous studies approached this from a water perspective quantifying water consumption of electricity to optimize water use, or from an electricity perspective using modeling methods to optimize electricity output. However, power plants consume different water volumes per unit of electricity, depending on the applied technology, and supply systems often include a mix of different technologies with a different water footprint (WF), an indicator of water consumption, per unit of electricity. When water availability varies in time, probably the contribution of different electricity generating technologies also varies in time, resulting in WF fluctuations. Focusing on electricity generation from the water perspective, we assessed how water availability affects an electricity mix's dynamics and its blue WF using Ecuador as a case study. We studied the Amazon and Pacific basins, which have different temporal and spatial water availability fluctuations, assessing monthly water availability, electricity production, and blue WFs per plant. The Amazon basin has smaller temporal and spatial availability fluctuations than the Pacific. The difference between the largest and smallest water availability in the Amazon basin is two-fold, in the Pacific four-fold. Hydropower generation in the Amazon basin contributes more than 60% to the electricity mix. However, hydropower is directly affected by water availability, and its production decreases in water-limited periods. For biomass plants, limited water availability affects the fuel source, sugarcane bagasse. As water availability decreases, other technologies in the mix take over, causing WF variation (from 4.8 to 8.6 103 m3 per month). Usually, less water-availability means more water-efficiency, implying fossil-fueled plants in the Pacific take over from hydropower in the Amazon. It is relevant to assess the water-electricity nexus in countries with electricity mixes dominated by hydropower because energy planning needs to consider water availability and electricity mix dynamics.

Is R&D always growth-enhancing? Empirical evidence from the EU countries

ABSTRACTThis study provides empirical evidence regarding the effects of R&D on economic growth in a panel of 28 European Union (EU) countries over the period 1997–2014. In particular, we investigate whether the impact of business and government R&D stocks on economic growth depends on the country’s distance to the world technology frontier. The main findings are that in the EU (i) there is positive, statistically significant business R&D stock–economic growth nexus in countries that are relatively close to the frontier and (ii) no statistically significant relationship was found to exist between government R&D stock and economic growth. From the policy perspective, the results suggest that designing proper national policies that allow switching from investment-based to innovation-based strategies at appropriate moments may be far more important than a simple call for increase in R&D expenditures and setting common numerical targets for all EU-member states.

Satisfaction and responsiveness with health-care services in Qatar—evidence from a survey

BackgroundSatisfaction and responsiveness with health care are some of the main outcome variables of a health system. Although health outcomes have been studied in countries with different levels of economic development, there is limited information on the health provision/satisfaction/responsiveness nexus in countries where rapid transitions from middle to high-income status have occurred. MethodsUsing a 2012 survey conducted in Qatar (amongst both Qatari and non-Qatari respondents), we analysed satisfaction and responsiveness of health care. The sample consisted of 4083 respondents. We use logit analysis [as well as robustness checks involving ordered logit, ordered probit, ordinary least squares (OLS) and probit analysis] in order to estimate the determinants of satisfaction and responsiveness. ResultsBoth, satisfaction and responsiveness rates were high. Gender, nationality and, to some extent, income and age were significant sociodemographic determinants of satisfaction, with non-Qataris and females, having higher levels of satisfaction. Cost, previous experience with the same health provider and provision of medical insurance for a particular health provider were the attributes significantly correlated with general satisfaction. The results are consistent when the analysis is applied to the correlates of responsiveness. ConclusionsSociodemographic factors explain the satisfaction with quality of health care in the state of Qatar (both from the general population point of view and from the patient point of view).