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Considering relatively high but recently decreasing environmental quality in the LAC countries with regard to the world, this study uncovers the progress of environmental quality, which is proxied by load capacity factor (LCF). In this context, the study considers renewable energy, trade openness, income, and globalization as explanatory indicators; uses data from 1990 to 2018; applies pooled mean group autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL) approach as the main model; and performs panel Toda-Yamamoto (PTY) causality test as robustness model. This is important because the LAC countries have ecological reserves, whereas many countries have an ecological deficit. For this reason, the investigation of the LAC countries has significance for the environmental quality in the world. Also, this study has novelty in terms of examining LAC countries and using the LCF as the environmental quality. The results present that (i) renewable energy has an improving impact on the LCF in both the short run and the long run; (ii) trade openness has a stimulating impact on the LCF in the long run; (iii) however, globalization and economic growth have a degrading impact on the LCF in the long run. Hence, it can be drawn from the results that renewable energy and trade openness have a critical impact on preserving and developing environmental quality. In line with the empirical findings, it can be proposed that LAC countries should utilize renewable energy effectively, improve trade volume through trade openness, increase renewable energy technology import, and expand the use of renewable energy in foreign trade activities. Thus, effective renewable energy and foreign trade policies can promote the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the LAC countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of renewable energy, tourism, foreign direct investment, and income on environmental degradation have attracted the attention of many researchers, but to date, no researcher has examined the concurrent effects of these variables on CO2 emissions for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. Motivated by this gap in the literature, this study aims to analyze the determinants of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions under the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for six ASEAN countries. To this end, the study utilizes the panel ARDL estimator and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test from 1995 to 2018. The results show that (i) tourism and foreign direct investment increase CO2 emissions. (ii) Real income and trade openness reduce environmental degradation. (iii) Since the long-run income elasticity is lower than the short-run, the EKC hypothesis is valid. (iv) Renewable energy reduces carbon emissions only in the short term and has no effect on environmental quality in the long term. There is also no causal relationship between renewable energy and environmental degradation. This could be due to the ineffective deployment of renewable energy in ASEAN countries. Based on these results, this study suggests that ASEAN countries should effectively use renewable energy, reduce the amount of fossil energy in the tourism sector, and support economic development to achieve a sustainable environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effect of foreign direct investment on carbon dioxide emissions was analyzed using annual data for the 1990-2016 period for the newly industrialized countries. The study was analyzed using Panel Pooled Mean Group-Autoregressive distributive lag cointegration test and Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel causality test. As a result of the long-term analysis, the foreign direct investment, energy consumption and trade openness have a positive and significant impact on carbon dioxide emissions whereas economic growth has negative and significant impact on carbon dioxide emissions. It has been analyzed that a 1% increase in foreign direct investment increases carbon dioxide emission by 0.03%. According to Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel causality tests analysis results, a bidirectional causality relationship between energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions; a unidirectional causality relationship from economic growth and trade openness to carbon dioxide emissions and from carbon dioxide emissions to foreign direct investment has been determined [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effect of globalization, economic development and the size of the public sector in the economy on the level of democratization for the Newly Industrialized Countries (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey) was tested with panel data analysis method using the 2003-2017 period annual data. Freedom House Index, KOF Index, per capita national income and share of the public sector total final consumption expenditures in the gross domestic product were used as variables. The stationarity of the series was tested with the CIPS panel unit root test, one of the second generation unit root tests, developed by Pesaran (2007). In addition, the Driscoll-Kraay Model Estimation approach was used in the study and the causality relationship was estimated by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) test. According to panel data analysis results, it has been determined that globalization has a negative effect, whereas the size of the public sector in the economy and economic development has a positive effect above the level of democratization. It has also been concluded that there is a one-way causality relationship from economic development to the size of the public sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]