Inequality and the Environment: Impact and Way Forward

Economic and financial crisis thwarts the process of global economic growth, development, integration, and efforts to promote a sustainable environment. The onset of the recent crisis aggravates the problem of inequality and more resources need to be channeled for economic recovery. This study attempts to examine the impact of income inequality on environmental pollution in a sample of an unbalanced panel of 120 countries which consist of 42 high-income, 35 upper-middle-income, and 43 lower-middle- and low-income countries. The sample period runs from 1985 to 2019. The empirical results are quantitatively robust to a different alternative of proxy. Results affirmed an inverted U-shaped relationship between income inequality and environmental pollution for lower-middle- and low-income countries. The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is present in the case of upper-middle, lower-middle- and low-income countries but not for high-income countries. The policy implication based on these findings is policies must be coordinated to cushion the impact of income inequality to enable more allocation for environmental protection such as measures to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Despite the crisis and economic slowdown, countries should take the opportunity to review their recovery plans by incorporating environmental concerns

The Casual Impact of Government Support on the Small Strategic Crop Industry: Malaysia's Experience

Rice is a staple food for countries particularly in Asia, including Malaysia, hence arise concern on its supply. Thus, this study aims to investigate the causal relationship between the incentives (fertiliser subsidy and minimum price guarantee) given and paddy production in Kedah, the rice bowl of Malaysia. A time-series data ranging from the 1996 main season to the main season in 2018 (1996H1 to 2018H1) employed. Using ARDL and Granger approaches, the result shows that any disequilibrium in paddy production is regulated to accomplish the convergence faster. In the short-run, fertiliser subsidy and paddy prices are not significant in the MADA regions. The results of the analysis show that there are various causes of the long-run in the production of rice with subsidized steel and rice prices related to rice yield. The outcome of this study demonstrates the presence of long-run causality between paddy production with fertiliser subsidy and paddy price with respect to paddy yield. Therefore, to boost the paddy yield, the government should increase the number of subsidies, and control the paddy price to prevent it from falling below the market price. Therefore, future research should investigate the causal relationship between fertiliser and paddy price subsidy to the different types of paddy seeds planted

The Casual Impact of Government Support on the Small Strategic Crop Industry: Malaysia's Experience

Rice is a staple food for countries particularly in Asia, including Malaysia, hence arise concern on its supply. Thus, this study aims to investigate the causal relationship between the incentives (fertiliser subsidy and minimum price guarantee) given and paddy production in Kedah, the rice bowl of Malaysia. A time-series data ranging from the 1996 main season to the main season in 2018 (1996H1 to 2018H1) employed. Using ARDL and Granger approaches, the result shows that any disequilibrium in paddy production is regulated to accomplish the convergence faster. In the short-run, fertiliser subsidy and paddy prices are not significant in the MADA regions. The results of the analysis show that there are various causes of the long-run in the production of rice with subsidized steel and rice prices related to rice yield. The outcome of this study demonstrates the presence of long-run causality between paddy production with fertiliser subsidy and paddy price with respect to paddy yield. Therefore, to boost the paddy yield, the government should increase the number of subsidies, and control the paddy price to prevent it from falling below the market price. Therefore, future research should investigate the causal relationship between fertiliser and paddy price subsidy to the different types of paddy seeds planted