The Impact of Urbanization on CO2 Emissions: Evidence from Developing Countries

This paper analyzes the impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions in developing countries, taking into account the presence of heterogeneity in the sample of countries and testing for the stability of the estimated elasticities over time. The sample covers the period from 1975 through 2003 for different groups of countries, classified according to their income levels. Our results show that, whereas the impact of population growth on emissions is above unity and only slightly different for upper, middle, and low- income countries, urbanization, demonstrate a very different impact on emissions for low and lower-middle-income countries and upper-middle income countries.CO2 emissions, developing countries, panel data, population growth, urbanization

RENT-SEEKING TOWARDS ECONOMIC GROWTH: EMPIRICAL STUDY IN LOWER-MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES

The good effects of globalization are not felt by all countries. Lower-middle-income countries are constrained by ineffective or poorly implemented economic policies in those countries. One indicator of this ineffectiveness is the low rate of controlling rent-seeking in lower-middle-income countries. Therefore, this study analyzes the effect of controlling rent-seeking on the economic growth of lower-middle-income countries. It is important to study where economic growth has an important role in the economic development of lower-middle-income countries. This study also uses control variables such as capital formation, population, and lag of economic growth through the Partial Adjustment Model (PAM) approach. Based on the results of regression testing that has been carried out, controlling rent seeking and capital formation is known to have a positive and significant effect on economic growth in lower-middle-income countries. Meanwhile population has a negative and significant effect on the economic growth of lower-middle-income countries

RENT-SEEKING TOWARDS ECONOMIC GROWTH: EMPIRICAL STUDY IN LOWER-MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES

The good effects of globalization are not felt by all countries. Lower-middle-income countries are constrained by ineffective or poorly implemented economic policies in those countries. One indicator of this ineffectiveness is the low rate of controlling rent-seeking in lower-middle-income countries. Therefore, this study analyzes the effect of controlling rent-seeking on the economic growth of lower-middle-income countries. It is important to study where economic growth has an important role in the economic development of lower-middle-income countries. This study also uses control variables such as capital formation, population, and lag of economic growth through the Partial Adjustment Model (PAM) approach. Based on the results of regression testing that has been carried out, controlling rent seeking and capital formation is known to have a positive and significant effect on economic growth in lower-middle-income countries. Meanwhile population has a negative and significant effect on the economic growth of lower-middle-income countries

Grow rich and clean up later? International assistance and the provision of environmental quality in low- and middle-income countries

This paper deals with the question whether low- and middle-income countries that are politically better integrated into the international system are able to provide higher levels of environmental quality than could be expected only according to their national income levels. Using time-series cross-section regression analysis of 110 countries for the period 1950-1999 it can be shown that those countries that have signed and ratified more environmental treaties, have significantly lower SO2 emissions than countries that are less integrated into the international system. However, in contrast to theoretical predictions democratic low- and middle-income countries despite their stronger integration into the international system exhibit higher SO2 emissions indicating lower environmental quality than autocratic countries. --

Impact of agricultural land conversion on climate change

Climate change and land use conversion are two major global environmental issues. A claim is made that climate change has brought new challenges for global land use, while land use conversion is hardly realized as a major driver for climate change. Using mapping techniques, this study aims to investigate the relationship between climate change and agricultural land conversion (ALC), by which land is converted from agricultural to other uses (e.g., urban areas, national and natural parks, roads, industrial areas, and afforestation projects). CO2 emission is considered as the main impact of climate change, and agricultural land conversion is regarded as the most important global land use. In this study, data are obtained from two databases: the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the period of 1962-2011. Considering the FAO (2015) classification, the countries are categorized into five different groups (high-income non-OECD, high-income OECD, upper-middle-, lower-middle-, and low-income countries). Economies were divided into several income groups according to 2014 gross national income per capita. The results show that agricultural areas in high-income countries have decreased, while in low- to middle-income countries, they have increased. The highest CO2 emissions can be observed, especially in high-income countries, whereas the lowest CO2 emissions happen in the low- and lower-middle-income countries. The results further show that there is a positive relationship between CO2 emissions and ALC across the world. It can be observed that CO2 emission is increasing where agricultural area is declining. On the contrary, CO2 emission is declining where agricultural area is increasing

Processed foods and the nutrition transition: evidence from Asia

This paper elucidates the role of processed foods and beverages in the ‘nutrition transition’ underway in Asia. Processed foods tend to be high in nutrients associated with obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases: refined sugar, salt, saturated and trans-fats. This paper identifies the most significant ‘product vectors’ for these nutrients and describes changes in their consumption in a selection of Asian countries. Sugar, salt and fat consumption from processed foods has plateaued in high-income countries, but has rapidly increased in the lower– middle and upper–middle-income countries. Relative to sugar and salt, fat consumption in the upper–middle- and lower–middle-income countries is converging most rapidly with that of high-income countries. Carbonated soft drinks, baked goods, and oils and fats are the most significant vectors for sugar, salt and fat respectively. At the regional level there appears to be convergence in consumption patterns of processed foods, but country-level divergences including high levels of consumption of oils and fats in Malaysia, and soft drinks in the Philippines and Thailand. This analysis suggests that more action is needed by policy-makers to prevent or mitigate processed food consumption. Comprehensive policy and regulatory approaches are most likely to be effective in achieving these goals

Financial Inclusion, Poverty, and Income Inequality: Evidence from High, Middle, and Low-income Countries

The past two decades have witnessed a high national importance to financial inclusion around the world. This paper intends to explore the impact of financial inclusion on poverty reduction and income inequality in the world, high, middle, and low-income countries. For this purpose, a new composite financial inclusion was constructed with three dimensions for finding various macroeconomic variables affecting the level of financial inclusion for 122 economies, including 32 from high-income, 38 from upper middle income, 38 from lower middle income, and 14 from low-income countries. Then the impact of financial inclusion, on poverty and income inequality, for the world and then for high, middle, and low-income countries was investigated. The estimates reveal that rule of law significantly affects financial inclusion for the world, high, middle, and low-income countries. But age dependency ratio influences the financial inclusion only for our full sample. However, population density significantly decreases financial inclusion just in the full sample and Upper middle-income countries. Education completion impacts significantly financial inclusion just in upper middle income. While literacy has a higher impact on financial inclusion in high-income countries. The findings also indicate that financial inclusion is significantly correlated with lower poverty for the full sample. The link between financial inclusion and income inequality has been found for high-income countries and lower-middle-income countries

Health-related quality of life is low in secondary school children in Fiji

The health and wellbeing of children in lower-income countries is the focus of much international effort, yet there has been very little direct measurement of this. Objective. The current objective was to study the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a general population of secondary school children in Fiji, a low middle-income country in the Pacific. Methods. Self-reported HRQoL was measured by the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 in 8947 school children (aged 12–18 years) from 18 secondary schools on Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji. HRQoL in Fiji was compared to that of school-aged children in 13 high- and upper middle-income countries. Results. The school children in Fiji had lower HRQoL than the children in the 13 comparison countries, with consistently lower physical, emotional, social, and school functioning and wellbeing. HRQoL was particularly low amongst girls and Indigenous Fijians. Conclusions. These findings raise concerns about the general functioning and wellbeing of school children in Fiji. The consistently low HRQoL across all core domains suggests pervasive underlying determinants. Investigation of the potential determinants in Fiji and validation of the current results in Fiji and other lower-income countries are important avenues for future research

Causal Nexus among Fiscal Policy, Economic Growth and Income Inequality in Sub-Saharan African Countries (1995-2016)

This paper investigates the causality among fiscal policy, economic growth  and income inequality in some twenty six  selected sub- African countries with a view to identifying the direction of causation among these variables;  thus aiding the identification of  policy choice variables whose impact could  predict the behaviour of some other variables. This  approach would ultimately provide solutions to  income inequality  and  economic  growth  problems  in sub-Saharan  African countries. To achieve this objective, the sub-Saharan African countries were divided into three–low income countries, lower  middle income countries and upper middle income countries. The methodology of multivariate Granger causality was  applied to investigate  the causality among fiscal policy, economic growth  and income inequality variables. The findings show that in low income countries and  lower middle income countries, no designable causality could be established among the three variables probably suggesting lack of effective policy cordination in SSA countries. However, a uni-directional causality running fron economic growth to income inequality was found  in upper middle income countries

Where to sell the next cappuccino? Income per capita and coffee consumption

This paper estimates the world demand for coffee using a dataset for 88 countries from 1990 to 2005, and dynamic panel data estimators. Results suggest that the income elasticity of demand is non constant and varies according to a country's income level. Higher income countries have lower income elasticities than middle and low income ones. Differences in price elasticities are not significant across income groups.Coffee, Demand, Income, Price, Elasticity