The Effect of Tourism Taxation on International Arrivals to a Small Tourism-Dependent Economy

This paper examines the effects of tax policies on international tourist arrivals to the Maldives using the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) panel data method. The Maldives is chosen as a case study because the nation is heavily dependent on tourism and earn up to 70% of total government revenue in tourism tax. As expected, the estimated tax elasticities show that tourism tax adversely influences inbound travel, but significant differences across source markets are observed. Specifically, a 10% increase in tourism tax reduces demand by 5.4%. The degree of responsiveness of tourism demand to changes in taxes is essential for tourism policy since a change in the cost of visiting a destination resulting from a change in tourism tax policies affects inbound tourism demand. Consequently, the effectiveness of current fiscal policies is a matter of concern for attracting international tourists to the Maldives

Consequences of Covid-19 on the Social Isolation of the Chinese Economy: Accounting for the Role of Reduction in Carbon Emissions

The main contribution of the present study to the energy literature is linked to the interaction between economic growth and pollution emission amidst globalization. Unlike other studies, this research explores the effect of economic and social isolation as a dimension of globalization. This allows underpinning the effects on the Chinese economic development of the isolation phenomenon as a consequence of coronavirus (COVID-19). To this end, annual time frequency data is used to achieve the hypothesized claims. The study resolutions include (i) The existence of a long-run equilibrium bond between the outlined variables (ii) The long-run estimates suggest that the Chinese economy over the investigated period, is inelastic to pollutant–driven economic growth as reported by the dynamic ordinary least squares, fully modified ordinary least squares and canonical regressions with a magnitude of 0.09%. (iii) The Chinese isolation is less responsive to its economic growth while the country political willpower is elastic as demonstrated by current government commitment to dampen the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is marked by the aggressive response on the government officials resolute by flattening the exponential impact of the pandemic. Based on these robust results some far-reaching policy implication(s) are underlined in the concluding remark section

The Anthropogenic Consequences of Energy Consumption and Population Expansion in Africa? Do governance factors make any difference?

Sub-Saharan Africa is greatly affected by global warming and is the most affected region in the world. Although several studies in the literature have attempted to identify the causative agents and recommendations to the environmental damages, the gap remains unfilled as the situation is still not any better. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge through the investigation of the role of governance, energy consumption and population on the environmental quality in Sub-Saharan Africa using data spanning over the period 1998 to 2014 for 46 countries in the region. For the empirical analysis, the System-Generalised Method of Moments (S-GMM) is employed to analyse the model. Findings from the study reveal that while the total population has a negative but insignificant impact on emissions, the urban population has a positive and statistically significant impact on emissions. The moderation effect of governance is found to overturn the adversities of the urban population on emissions, but this effect is statistically insignificant. The study recommends proper and strategic management of population pressure in urban centres to mitigate its impact on emission

Do energy use and economic policy uncertainty affect CO2 emissions in China? Empirical evidence from the dynamic ARDL simulation approach

Global warming is currently the biggest problem. China is the world's highest CO2 emitter. The Chinese authorities agreed to overcome global pollution per the current Paris treaty and has showed deep concern regarding global warming. Hence, policymakers are paying attention to economic policy uncertainty. Motivated by this issue, the study examines the effect of energy use, economic policy uncertainty, and economic growth on China's CO2 emissions from 1970 to 2018 by employing a novel dynamic ARDL simulation model. The findings show that energy use and economic growth have statistically substantial long-run and short-run positive effects on CO2 emissions. However, economic policy uncertainty has an insignificant effect on CO2 emissions, due to firms’ sustainability policies. Energy use can have valuable policy consequences, particularly for environmental sustainability. Therefore, based on the empirical findings, the crucial partnership and feedback on China's carbon emission policy should be carried forward