Findings of Westerlund and Pedroni tests for cointegration.

Findings of Westerlund and Pedroni tests for cointegration.</p

Estimation of bilateral causality of panel variables by the causality test of Dumitrescu and Hurlin.

Estimation of bilateral causality of panel variables by the causality test of Dumitrescu and Hurlin.</p

Urban population growth and urbanization rates in densely populated and emerging market countries, 1970–2020.

Sources: United Nations Population Division; World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/90c7f8d1-7d60-56f6-8475-59ed8b34a5f7/content.</p

Country-level coefficient elasticity estimation using AMG estimation technique.

Country-level coefficient elasticity estimation using AMG estimation technique.</p

Data_Sheet_1_RETRACTED: An empirical analysis of the impact of gender inequality and sex ratios at birth on China’s economic growth.pdf

The contribution of women to China’s economic growth and development cannot be overemphasized. Women play important social, economic, and productive roles in any economy. China remains one of the countries in the world with severe gender inequality and sex ratio at birth (SRB) imbalance. Severe gender inequality and disenfranchisement of girls with abnormally high sex ratios at birth reflect deep-rooted sexism and adversely affect girls’ development. For China to achieve economic growth, women should not be ignored and marginalized so that they can contribute to the country’s growth, but the sex ratio at birth needs to be lowered because only women can contribute to growth. Thus, this study empirically predicts an asymmetric relationship between gender inequality, sex ratio at birth and economic growth, using NARDL model over the period 1980–2020. The NARDL results show that increases in gender inequality and sex ratio at birth significantly reduce economic growth in both the short and long term, while reductions in gender inequality and sex ratio at birth significantly boost economic growth in both the short and long term. Moreover, the results show the significant contribution of female labor force participation and female education (secondary and higher education) to economic growth. However, infant mortality rate significantly reduced economic growth. Strategically, the study recommends equal opportunities for women in employment, education, health, economics, and politics to reduce gender disparities and thereby promote sustainable economic growth in China. Moreover, policymakers should introduce new population policy to stabilize the sex ratio at birth, thereby promoting China’s long-term economic growth.</p

Panel variable data interpretation, quantification and sources.

Panel variable data interpretation, quantification and sources.</p

Estimation of the long run nonlinear environmental effect of urbanization pathways.

Estimation of the long run nonlinear environmental effect of urbanization pathways.</p

Findings of cross sectional correlation in panel variable data.

Findings of cross sectional correlation in panel variable data.</p

Statistical summary and correlation of panel variables.

Statistical summary and correlation of panel variables.</p

Detection of unit roots of panel variables.

A dynamic STIRPAT model used in the current study is based on panel data from the eight most populous countries from 1975 to 2020, revealing the nonlinear effects of urbanization routes (percentage of total urbanization, percentage of small cities and percentage of large cities) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Using “Dynamic Display Unrelated Regression (DSUR)” and “Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS)” regressions, the outcomes reflect that percentage of total urbanization and percentage of small cities have an incremental influence on carbon dioxide emissions. However, square percentage of small cities and square percentage of total urbanization have significant adverse effects on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The positive relationship between the percentage of small cities, percentage of total urbanization and CO2 emissions and the negative relationship between the square percentage of small cities, square percentage of total urbanization and CO2 emissions legitimize the inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis. The impact of the percentage of large cities on carbon dioxide emissions is significantly negative, while the impact of the square percentage of large cities on carbon dioxide emissions is significantly positive, validating a U-shaped EKC hypothesis. The incremental effect of percentage of small cities and percentage of total urbanization on long-term environmental degradation can provide support for ecological modernization theory. Energy intensity, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), industrial growth and transport infrastructure stimulate long-term CO2 emissions. Country-level findings from the AMG estimator support a U-shaped link between the percentage of small cities and CO2 emissions for each country in the entire panel except the United States. In addition, the Dumitrescu and Hulin causality tests yield a two-way causality between emission of carbon dioxide and squared percentage of total urbanization, between the percentage of the large cities and emission of carbon dioxide, and between energy intensity and emission of carbon dioxide. This study proposes renewable energy options and green city-friendly technologies to improve the environmental quality of urban areas.</div