Measurement of China’s green GDP and its dynamic variation based on industrial perspective

Over the previous two decades, Chinese economic development presented a rapid growth. However, with continuous industrialization and urbanization, China is confronted with great challenges of energy security and environmental issues. These problems are closely related to the current accounting method of economic growth to a certain extent. In order to meet these challenges, it is imperative to establish a green accounting system of economic growth and measure China’s green GDP and its changing trend based on the industrial perspective. Using the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) and industry data, this paper estimates China’s green GDP and green value added by industry sectors in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2017. The results reveal the following: First, the ratio of green GDP to traditional GDP gradually increases from 89.85 to 95.83% during 2005–2017, which means that the negative externalities of economic growth of the resource and environment are gradually weakened. Second, the difference between traditional GDP and green GDP during 2005–2017 is about 6.96%, with the carbon emissions accounting for 70.71% of environmental impact. Third, due to more than 80% of the environmental impact coming from three sectors: manufacturing (49.99%), electricity industry (22.63%), and other services (11.37%), these three sectors should be key sectors for energy conservation and emission reduction; fourth, the green GDP of the mining, electricity industries, and manufacturing accounts for the lowest proportion of GDP, which means that the development patterns of these three industries in recent years should be adjusted and optimized step by step.

     

Urban transformation of a metropolis and its environmental impacts

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to understand the sustainability of urban spatial transformation in the process of rapid urbanization, and calls for future research on the demographic and economic dimensions of climate change. Shanghai towards its transformation to a metropolis has experienced vast socioeconomic and ecological change and calls for future research on the impacts of demographic and economic dimensions on climate change. We look at the major questions (1) to explore economic and demographic growth, land use and land-cover changes in the context of rapid economic and city growth, and (2) to analyze how the demography and economic growth have been associated with the local air temperature and vegetation.

Method

We examine urban growth, land use and land-cover changes in the context of rapid economic development and urbanization. We assess the impact of urban expansion on local air temperature and vegetation. The analysis is based on time series data of land use, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and meteorological, demographic and economic data.

Results and discussion

The results indicate that urban growth has been driven by mass immigration; as a consequence of economic growth and urban expansion, a large amount of farmland has been converted to paved road and residential buildings. Furthermore, the difference between air temperature in urban and exurban areas has increased rapidly. The decrease of high mean annual NDVI has mainly occurred around the dense urban areas.     

Linking Salmon Aquaculture Synergies and Trade-Offs on Ecosystem Services to Human Wellbeing Constituents

Salmon aquaculture has emerged as a successful economic industry generating high economic revenues to invest in the development of Chiloe region, Southern Chile. However, salmon aquaculture also consumes a substantial amount of ecosystem services, and the direct and indirect impacts on human wellbeing are still unknown and unexplored. This paper identifies the synergies and trade-offs caused by the salmon industry on a range of ecosystem services. The results show that large economic benefits due to the increase of provisioning ecosystem services are also causing a reduction on regulating and cultural services. Despite the improvement on average income and poverty levels experienced in communities closely associated with the sector, this progress is not large enough and social welfare did not improve substantially over the last decade. The rest of human wellbeing constituents in Chiloe region have not changed significantly compared to the development in the rest of the country.     

Evaluating pollution damage function through carbon pricing,renewable energy demand,and cleaner technologies in China: blue versus green economy

Climate change and increased greenhouse gas emissions boost the global average temperature to less than 2°C, which is the estimated breakeven point. The globe is moving into blue pollution economies as the environmental sustainability objective becomes more distorted. The study looked at three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, namely (i) affordable and clean energy; (ii) industry, innovation, and infrastructure; and (iii) climate change, to see how far the Chinese economy has progressed toward green and clean development strategy. In the context of China, the “pollution damage function” was intended to refer to carbon damages related to carbon pricing, technological variables, sustained economic growth, incoming foreign investment, and green energy. The data was collected between 1975 and 2019 and analyzed using various statistical approaches. The results of the autoregressive distributed lag model suggest that carbon taxes on industrial emissions reduce carbon damages in the short and long run. Furthermore, a rise in inbound foreign investment and renewable energy demand reduces carbon damages in the short term, proving the “pollution halo” and “green energy” hypotheses; nonetheless, the results are insufficient to explain the stated results in the long run. In the long run, technology transfers and continued economic growth are beneficial in reducing carbon damages and confirming the potential of cleaner solutions in pollution mitigation. The causal inferences show the one-way relationship running from carbon pricing and technology transfer to carbon damages, and green energy to high-technology exports in a country. The impulse response estimates suggested that carbon tax, inbound foreign investment, and technology transfers likely decrease carbon damages for the next 10 years. On the other hand, continued economic growth and inadequate green energy sources are likely to increase carbon pollution in a country. The variance decomposition analysis suggested that carbon pricing and information and communication technology exports would likely significantly influence carbon damages over time. To keep the earth’s temperature within the set threshold, the true motivation to shift from a blue to a green economy required strict environmental legislation, the use of green energy sources, and the export of cleaner technologies.

Graphical abstract

Source: Authors’ self-extract

     

Analysis of the mechanism of the impact of internet development on green economic growth: evidence from 269 prefecture cities in China

As the digital economy develops rapidly and the network information technology advances, new development models represented by the network economy have emerged, which have a crucial impact on green economic growth. However, the relevant previous studies lacked the role of analyzing the direct and indirect effects of internet development on green economic growth at the prefecture-level city level. For this purpose, this paper aims to examine the intrinsic mechanism of the impact of internet development on green economic growth and provide empirical support for cities and regions in China to increase internet construction. Furthermore, the mixed model (EBM), which includes both radial and non-radial distance functions, is applied to calculate the green economic growth index. Fixed effect model and mediation effect model are also employed to test influence mechanisms of the internet development on green economic growth using panel data of 269 prefecture-level cities in China from 2004 to 2019. The statistical results reveal that internet development has contributed significantly to green economic growth. When the internet development level increases by 1 unit, the green economic growth level increases by an average of 5.0372 units. However, regional heterogeneity is evident between internet development and green economic growth, that is, the promoting effect of internet development on green economic growth is gradually enhanced from the eastern region to the western region. We also find that internet development guides industrial structure upgrading improves environmental quality and accelerates enterprise innovation, which indirectly contributes to green economic growth. And internet development mainly achieves green economic growth through enterprise innovation. Based on the above findings, we concluded that policymakers should not only strengthen the guiding role of social actors to promote the stable development of the internet industry, but also foster the construction of the three models of “internet+industry integration,” “internet+environmental governance,” and “internet+enterprise innovation” to promote green economic growth.

     

“Green” economic development in China: quantile regression evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt

As China’s economy began transitioning from one focused on high-speed growth to one focusing on high-quality development, sustainable green development has become the main goal pursued by the government. This study empirically measures the marginal impact of per capita GDP, technological innovation level, industrial structure, openness, fiscal decentralization, and urbanization level on per capita wastewater discharge in 11 provinces (cities) along the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 2008 to 2018 using a quantile model. The key findings were as follows: (1) factors such as the per capita GDP, industrial structure, foreign direct investment, and urbanization in the YREB significantly increased water resource pollution; (2) the quantile model regression results showed that the relationship between economic growth and ecological pollution followed the so-called environmental Kuznets inverted U-curve. Wastewater discharge per capita was low in areas with low per capita GDP, meaning that the ecological environment in these areas was more fragile and that the environmental pollution costs due to economic growth were therefore relatively much higher in these areas; (3) fiscal decentralization significantly reduced water resource pollution in relatively developed areas although the effects in the relatively developing areas were not significant; and (4) the effects of technological innovation on reducing water resource pollution in the YREB were positive but not very significant. The results also confirmed that traditional patterns of economic growth increased water pollution in the YREB. For this reason, the government needs to urgently improve policies—for example, upgrading economic structures, preventing over-urbanization, speeding up technological innovation, introducing environmentally friendly foreign investment, and providing more rewards to best practitioners of environmental governance—that is conducive to the achievement of green ecological development.

     

Gasoline prices and economic policy uncertainty: what causes what,and why does it matter? Evidence from 18 selected countries

In this paper, we examine asymmetric causal relationships between gasoline prices and economic policy uncertainty in a panel of 18 countries over the period 1998–2017, using the recently introduced panel causality approach of Hatemi et al (Appl Econ, 48:2301–2308, 2016) that accounts for asymmetric dynamics and is robust to both cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity. Empirical findings reveal asymmetric causal relationships between gasoline prices and economic policy uncertainty in the sampled countries. Specifically, results show that economic policy uncertainty and gasoline prices have positive and negative asymmetric bidirectional causal relations in 13 countries. No feedback causality was detected between gasoline prices and economic policy uncertainty in 5 countries. Based on the results, we infer that positive and negative asymmetric causal relations exist between economic policy uncertainty and gasoline price, with attendant policy implications in sampled regions.

     

人口增长、经济增长、技术变化与环境变迁——中国现代环境变迁(1952—1990)

本文主要研究人口增长、经济增长、技术变化三大因素对环境质量变化的影响。作者提出环境变迁曲线,与人口转变曲线、工业化过程相联系,并划分了环境变迁四个阶段。根据环境变迁过程以及动因,在国际比较范围内,进一步说明了中国环境变迁的特点。作者认为,强化减少污染型技术因素是改善环境质量的主要途径,与此同时,坚持控制人口增长,以减少环境压力。     

Economic Development,Rural livelihoods,and Ecological Restoration: Evidence from China

This article uses a case study in Southeast China to demonstrate how the substantial changes in rural livelihoods have been driven by a combination of “pull” forces from external economic development, and “push” forces from local areas, leading to a shift in rural household economic activities: household outmigration and de-population of the countryside, changes in energy consumption, and most importantly, changes in land uses and eventually, ecological restoration. Such dramatic changes are becoming common across the Chinese countryside. It is pointed out that economic development has generally caused a deterioration of the environment at least at the early period of economic growth, but the positive impacts, especially in some ecosystem in rural areas, have become more apparent.     

Growth-corruption-health triaca and environmental degradation: empirical evidence from Indonesia,Malaysia, and Thailand

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study examines the impact of economic growth, corruption, health, and poverty on environmental degradation for three countries from ASEAN, namely...     

The nexus between remittances,natural resources,technological innovation,economic growth,and environmental sustainability in Pakistan

Globally, the issues about sustainable development are on the increase. Moreover, these issues are rising every day in Pakistan, as remittances are increasing, technology innovation is ambiguous, natural resources are degraded, and economic expansion might pose serious challenges to the environment. Thus, this research looks at how remittances, natural resources, technological innovation, and economic growth affect carbon dioxide (CO₂₎ emissions in Pakistan by controlling energy consumption and urbanization from 1990 to 2019. The Bayer and Hanck test of combined cointegration discloses a cointegration between remittances, natural resources, technological innovations, economic growth, and CO₂ emissions. Moreover, the autoregressive distributive lag model (ARDL) proposes a significant positive association between remittances and CO₂ emissions in the long run, indicating that the increase in remittances distresses the environmental performance of Pakistan. Our study confirms that natural resources decrease CO₂ emissions while technological advancement, economic progress, energy use, and urbanization increase CO₂ emissions. In addition, the results of robustness checks by employing fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares are parallel to the conclusions of ARDL estimations. Furthermore, the frequency causality test results show that remittances, natural resources, technological innovation, economic growth, energy use, and urbanization cause CO₂ emissions at different frequencies. Therefore, to achieve the sustainable development goals, appropriate policy repercussions can be developed toward advanced and environmentally sustainable sources of energy.

     

Differential Sensitivity of a Coccal Green Algal and a Cyanobacterial Species to Dissolved Natural Organic Matter (NOM) (8 pp)

Background

and Aim. In non-eutrophicated freshwaters, humic substances (HS) pose chemical stresses on aquatic organisms and, hence, separating sensitive from less sensitive or even tolerant species. One of the stresses, identified so far, is the reduction of photosynthetic oxygen production and reduction in growth in freshwater macrophytes and algae. In a previous paper, it has been shown that even closely related coccal green algae responded differently upon identical stress by HS, which is consistent with the hypothesis above. Due to their much simpler cellular ultrastructure, cyanobacteria are supposed to be more sensitive to HS exposure than eukaryote should be. One coccal green algal species (Desmodesmus communis) and one cyanobacterium (Chroococcus minutus) were exposed to four natural organic matter (NOM) isolates. One NOM has been isolated from a brown water lake (Schwarzer See) in Brandenburg State; three were obtained from a comprehensive Scandinavian NOM research project and originated from Norway (Birkenes), Finland (Hietajärvi), and Sweden (Svartberget).

Methods

Cultures of D. communis and C. minutus were obtained from the Culture Collection of Algae, Göttingen, and maintained in a common medium. The cultures were non-axenic. The algae and cyanobacteria were exposed under identical conditions to environmentally realistic NOM concentrations. Cell numbers were counted microscopically in Neugebauer cuvettes in triplicates. To avoid limitation by nutrient depletion, the experiments were terminated after 14 to 15 days. Until culture day 12, no growth limitation has been observed in the controls.

Results

All NOM isolates modulated the growth of the algae and cyanobacteria. During the early culture days, there was a slight growth promotion with the coccal green alga and to a much lesser degree with the cyanobacterium. Yet, the major effect were significant reductions in cell yield in both primary producer cultures. C. minutus was much more affected than D. communis. This applies particularly to the three tested Scandinavian NOM isolates, which were effective at concentrations even below 1 mg L-1 DOC.

Discussion

The growth promoting effect may be due to an increase in bioavailability of some trace nutrients in the presence of NOM, the release of some growth promoting substances by microbial or photochemical processing of the NOM, and/or a hormetic effect. The growth reducing effect can be explained as a herbicide-like mode of action that affects the photosystem II most prevalent by blocking the electron transport chain, absorption of electrons, or production of an internal oxidative stress after processing the bioconcentrated HS. Furthermore, it may be postulated that also photo-toxicity of these HS in the algal cells contributes to the overall toxicity; however, experimental evidence is lacking so far.

Conclusions

Upon exposure to HS, cyanobacteria appear to be much more sensitive than coccal green algae and respond in growth reduction. This high sensitivity of cyanobacteria to HS may explain phytoplankton patterns in the field. Eutrophic, humic-rich lakes do not support the cyanobacterial blooms characteristic of eutrophic, but humic-poor lakes. In the humic-rich systems, raphidophytes or, less frequent, specific coccal greens are more common. Obviously, cyanobacteria appear to be unable to make advantage of their accessory pigments (phycocyanin) to exploit the reddish light prevailing in humic-rich lakes.

Recommendation

. At present, no effective structure can be figured out which may be responsible for the adverse effect on the cyanobacterial species. It is reserved to future research whether or not HS may be applied more specifically (for instance, with elevated moieties of the effective structures) as a natural geochemical to combat cyanobacterial blooms.

     

Effects of urbanization and nonrenewable energy on carbon emission in Africa

This study investigates the impact of urbanization and nonrenewable energy consumption on carbon emissions. The context of the analysis is 54 African Union countries from 1996 to 2019. For estimation, we use panel quantile regression (PQR) and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS). Our regression results demonstrate that there is a positive correlation between urbanization and CO₂ emission. Further, our empirical results confirmed that nonrenewable energy consumption increases environmental pollution in African Union countries. The outcomes demonstrate the EKC hypothesis because at the initial stage of development, when economic growth increases, environmental pollution increases; after a threshold point, environmental pollution decreases as economic growth increases. It can find an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and CO₂ emission. The findings also show that urbanization should be planned; otherwise, it can lead to environmental degradation in the long run. Africa continent takes strict action and builds a blueprint for efficient and effective energy production and consumption. The only solution to achieve green growth in Africa is to shift from fossil fuel energy supply to renewable energy supply.

     

Nexus among electricity consumption,foreign direct investment and aggregate economic activity towards Nigeria’s economic performance: evidence from a trivariate causality model

It is evident that there is nexus among electricity consumption, foreign direct investment and aggregate economic activity. Unfortunately, the causal relationship among the three variables in Nigeria based on modern econometric methods, recent time-series data and ways that sufficiently cater for inflation and population growth has not been adequately investigated. This study, among other things, used a trivariate vector error correction model, autoregressive distributed lag bounds test for cointegration and Granger causality test to analyse the causal relationship among electricity consumption, foreign direct investment and aggregate economic activity based on time-series data from 1970 to 2018. The study found the presence of neutral causality between electricity consumption and aggregate economic activity in the short run as well as unidirectional causality from aggregate economic activity to electricity consumption in the long run. The study also found the presence of unidirectional causality from foreign direct investment to electricity consumption as well as neutral causality between foreign direct investment and aggregate economic activity in both the short run and the long run. It is therefore recommended that steps should be taken to adequately increase foreign direct investment and aggregate economic activity in ways that will guarantee an optimal increase in electricity consumption in Nigeria.

     

Behavioral and metabolic effects of sublethal doses of two insecticides,chlorpyrifos and methomyl,in the Egyptian cotton leafworm, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Spodoptera littoralis</Emphasis> (Boisduval) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Insecticides have long been used as the main method in limiting agricultural pests, but their widespread use has resulted in environmental pollution, development of resistances, and biodiversity reduction. The effects of insecticides at low residual doses on both the targeted crop pest species and beneficial insects have become a major concern. In particular, these low doses can induce unexpected positive (hormetic) effects on pest insects, such as surges in population growth exceeding what would have been observed without pesticide application. Methomyl and chlorpyrifos are two insecticides commonly used to control the population levels of the cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis, a major pest moth. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of sublethal doses of these two pesticides, known to present a residual activity and persistence in the environment, on the moth physiology. Using a metabolomic approach, we showed that sublethal doses of methomyl and chlorpyrifos have a systemic effect on the treated insects. We also demonstrated a behavioral disruption of S. littoralis larvae exposed to sublethal doses of methomyl, whereas no effects were observed for the same doses of chlorpyrifos. Interestingly, we highlighted that sublethal doses of both pesticides did not induce a change in acetylcholinesterase activity in head of exposed larvae.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cryptosporidium</Emphasis> and cryptosporidiosis: the African perspective

The present overview discusses the findings of cryptosporidiosis research conducted in Africa and highlights the currently available information on Cryptosporidium epidemiology, genetic diversity, and distribution on the African continent, particularly among vulnerable populations, including children. It also emphasizes the burden of cryptosporidiosis, which is underestimated due to the presence of many silent asymptomatic carriers.Cryptosporidiosis is recognized as one of the leading causes of childhood diarrhea in African countries. It has dramatic adverse effects on child growth and development and causes increased mortality on a continent where HIV, poverty, and lack of sanitation and infrastructure increase the risk of cryptosporidial waterborne infection.     

Chemical,biological, and ecotoxicological assessment of pesticides and persistent organic pollutants in the Bahlui River,Romania

Background, aim, and scope

Current knowledge on environmental impacts of industrial activities in Romania, particularly persistent organic pollutants (POPs), indicates that environmental standards of the European Union are not systematically met. In our study area, additional sources of POPs are agriculture and domestic wastes. Very scarce information is available upon environmental contaminations and effects. In the present study, we investigated the chemical pollution and their eventual impact on the ecosystem by measuring POPs and by using biological indicators of pollution.

Materials and methods

The survey was carried out at six main sample sites along the Bahlui River. Sediments were chemically analysed for their content in polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs)—hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) isomers and the dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT) family. River water was biologically monitored at the level of phytoplankton and benthic invertebrates’ communities. Water samples from six locations have been analyzed for algal species composition and correspondence to various water quality indices. Biological samples have been taken from the same locations so as to calculate the macroinvertebrate indices. In the most polluted areas, as revealed by previous methods, toxicity was tested by exposing the green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata and the cladoceran Daphnia magna to various dilutions of water sample.

Results

Important concentrations of POPs were identified only in sediments at river mouths (sites S5 and S6). Along the year, the sum of PCB concentrations ranged between 3 and 10 ng/g dw (S5), and between 4 and 26 ng/g dw (S6). Concentration of HCHs ranged between 0.4 and 3 ng/g dw (both S5 and S6) with a higher contribution of the gamma-HCH (30–70%), followed by beta-HCH (20–50%). The beta-HCH isomer was found at lower concentrations or even not detected in outer city sites. DDTs were found at higher concentrations than HCHs and ranged between 0.18 and 4 ng/g dw (S5) and between 0.56 and 18 ng/g dw (S6). The parent compound, p,p′-DDT, could be detected only in low concentrations (up to 5 ng/g dw) and contributed with less than 30% to the sum of DDTs in sediment. The principal contributors of the ΣDDTs in sediment were p,p′-DDE, and p,p′-DDD. The o,p′-DDD and DDT isomers were minor contributors to the sum of DDT. PAHs were found at higher concentrations than DDTs and ranged between 6 and 36 ng/g dw (S5) and between 36 and 155 ng/g dw (S6). Fluoranthene was predominant (up to 40%), followed by phenantrene (up to 30%), naphthalene (up to 35%), and benzo-(g,h,i)-perylene (up to 23%). The saprobity index and the diatom index increased from springs to river mouth, indicating a decrease in the water quality, but within the limits of moderate pollution. The saprobity index varied between 1.99 at spring to 2.70 at mouth. The diatom index varied from 3.48 to 3.14. The species’ richness in phytoplankton has a less clear pattern along the river, but in general, it appears to be negatively influenced by pollution. At the level of biological consumer species, the analyses of the macroinvertebrates confirm the situation and the tendency shown with algae. In addition, the Shannon–Wiener index, the Pielou evenness index, and the McNaughton dominance index indicate a peculiar pattern: invertebrate communities appear to a have a more stable structure along the river, with visible shifts at springs and at river mouths. Water toxicity testing indicates low toxicity of river waters around the city of Iasi, with two notable exceptions: the point pollution at the domestic wastewater treatment discharge and at the old open-air deposit of domestic solid wastes. Another important result was that tested algae appeared to be more readily affected than tested cladoceran: EC₅₀ (percent effluent) was 16 in algae and 28 in cladocerans. The slope of toxic effect was also much steeper in cladocerans (6) than in algae (1.8), which means that the toxic effect is more sudden on the tested invertebrates than on the tested algae.

Discussion

Pollutant concentrations reported herein are lower or similar than those reported for the sediments by earlier studies (RIZA 2000; Dragan et al., Int J Environ Anal Chem 86:833–842, 2006). Ratios of individual PAH compounds indicate important pyrolytic inputs and suggest that PAHs in the area are derived from the combustion of fossil fuels. Biologically, the waters appear to be beta-mesosaprobic towards alpha-mesosaprobic according to the saprobic index classification and undergo moderate pollution according to the diatom index classification. Water quality decreases from springs to river mouths. Algal species richness index has a less clear pattern along the river. Water toxicity is low, but certain sources of point pollution require increased attention.

Conclusions

The water quality is better than expected, probably because of the drop in pollution intensity following the collapse of local agricultural and industrial activity following the fall of communism in 1989. Nevertheless, further studies will be needed to confirm and refine our results. While this study draws no strident alarm, it appeals for high attention, particularly because the economic activity in the area is expected to increase.

Recommendations and perspectives

Future close monitoring will be necessary for insuring compliance with the Water Framework Directive, and for refining standards and understanding of the local situation, but with relevance for the wider international community. On the basis of the situation described in the present study, we recommend that future studies dedicate specific efforts to point pollution and effluent toxicity, particularly around the city of Iasi. For a better understanding of pollution and its effects, we recommend pursuing the type of multidisciplinary investigations proposed by the present study: chemical, ecotoxicological, and ecological. We also recommend that new methods should be developed and/or refined, like the empirical determination of partitioning coefficients in water and soils, process-based toxicity methods in ecotoxicological assessments, searching for interactions between pollution, producers, and consumers in aquatic ecosystems. We also recommend preference for cheaper survey methods, as these will be more applicable locally.

     

Revisiting oil rents-output growth nexus in Nigeria: evidence from dynamic autoregressive distributive lag model and kernel-based regularized least squares approach

Given the dominant role of oil in terms of foreign exchange earnings in Nigeria, this study revisits the oil rents and output growth nexus, using the novel dynamic autoregressive distributive lag (DYNARDL) model and kernel-based regularized least squares (KRLS) approach over the period 1973–2020. The major finding from this study is that oil rents are less significant for output and also exhibit decreasing marginal effect on output growth in Nigeria. However, our robustness result shows that oil revenue is positive and significantly affects output growth, while corruption dampens output growth. Result from the oil revenue model with a minimum root square mean error, when compared with the oil rents model, corroborate the finding. We are thus of the opinion that oil revenue is more important for output growth in Nigeria than oil rents. Having established this fact, it is recommended that policymakers and the government should accord utmost attention to boosting oil revenue via transparency and accountability. They should also ensure a lasting solution to the nation’s high dependency on refined crude oil products importation for a sustainable economic growth and development. Also, more efforts should be directed at developing the seven identified strategic solid minerals to further enhance the revenue base of the government.

     

The role of innovations and renewable energy consumption in reducing environmental degradation in OECD countries: an investigation for Innovation Claudia Curve

Rising economic growth in recent ages is the primary concern of most of the countries to enhance the living standard, but the ever-increasing production of economic activities consumes a lot of energy, which leads to a sharp increase in carbon dioxide emissions. Innovation may be a remedy that can help improve energy efficiency, obtain renewable energy, and promote economic growth, thereby protecting the quality of the environment. Therefore, this paper examines the role of innovation and renewable energy consumption in CO2 reduction in OECD countries from 2004 to 2019. By using the two-step system generalized of moment estimator, the results show that economic growth and innovation significantly increase carbon emissions, however the innovation Claudia Curve (ICC) is verified, and the environmental Kuznets curve does not exist. Foreign direct investment has a negative impact on carbon emissions, thus verifying the Pollution Hao hypothesis, whereas renewable energy also improves environmental quality, but the interaction between innovation and renewable energy consumption still increases carbon emissions. Financial development, industrialization, trade, and energy consumption have also been found to be harmful factors of environmental quality. Our findings have considerable policy implications for OECD countries on the improvement of innovation indicators and investment in renewable energy sources to rise environmental quality.

     

Residential Proximity to Industrial Sources of Air Pollution: Interrelationships among Race,Poverty, and Age

ABSTRACT

This study builds on earlier work investigating statistical relationships between sociodemographic characteristics of populations and their residential proximity to industrial sources of air pollution. The analysis uses demographic data from the 1990 U.S. Census and industrial site data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s 1990 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The focus is on examining interactions among race (African Americans and Whites), poverty (above and below household poverty threshold), and age (children from birth to 5 years of age and elderly people 65 years old or older). Results from three different study areas (Kanawha Valley in West Virginia, the Baton Rouge-New Orleans Corridor in Louisiana, and the greater Baltimore metropolitan area in Maryland) suggest there are important interactions among race, poverty, and age that are likely to have consequential ramifications for efforts aimed at investigating issues related to environmental justice. Our results indicate that a substantial proportion of all demographic groups studied live within a mile of the nearest facility, with values ranging from 22% of Whites above poverty in the Baton Rouge-New Orleans Corridor to 60% of African Americans below poverty in Baltimore. Likewise, a substantial proportion of all demographic groups also live within 2 miles of four or more industrial facilities, with values ranging from 16% for Whites above poverty in the Corridor to 70% for African Americans below poverty in Baltimore. In all three study areas, African Americans were more likely than Whites to (1) live in households with incomes below the household poverty line, (2) have children 5 years of age or younger, (3) live closer to the nearest industrial emissions source, and (4) live within 2 miles of multiple industrial emission sources. Findings indicate that, compared with White children, a substantially higher proportion of African-American children 5 years of age or younger lived in poor households that were located in relatively close proximity to one or more industrial sources of air pollution.