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This document discusses the importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) in promoting growth and development in emerging economies. It acknowledges that FDI can have both positive and negative effects, but overall it is seen as a vital tool for economic acceleration. The document highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global FDI patterns, particularly in emerging economies. It introduces a special issue that includes eight papers examining various aspects of FDI inflows and outflows in the context of COVID-19. The papers cover topics such as the factors influencing FDI, the effects of the pandemic on FDI, and the relationship between FDI and economic growth. The document concludes by expressing gratitude to the reviewers and editors involved in publishing the special issue. [Extracted from the article]

China, being the world's largest exporter, has now certain environmental commitments such as to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. These commitments of China has raised a reasonable concern regarding the expected reduction in the production and export of pollution intensive goods in the future. Besides China, the most efficient countries in the region to produce these goods are most of the member countries from ASEAN. The current study therefore aims to analyze if in the future, China reduces the production and export of these goods, whether the selected ASEAN countries can be the next choice for the export of pollution intensive goods. Based on the data availability for the period 1990–2019, this study considers five selected ASEAN countries (ASEAN-5). The results are based on the Auto Regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to cointegration and Error Correction Modeling (ECM). The aggregate analysis of five pollution intensive goods (pulp and paper (341), industrial chemicals (351), non-metallic minerals products (369), iron and steel (371) and non-ferrous metals (372)) suggests that Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow can significantly increase the export of pollution intensive goods only in case of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. However, there is no significant effect of FDI on the export of pollution intensive goods in case of Philippines and Singapore. The disaggregate analyses of the five pollution intensive goods suggest that in each of the ASEAN-5 countries, FDI inflow can significantly increase the export of pollution intensive goods in some of these industries rather than in all of them. In nutshell, it is concluded that ASEAN-5 countries can be a potential choice for the export of pollution intensive goods in some of the pollution intensive industries but not in all of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Czech Republic has been a promising destination for foreign investors due to its locational advantages and tax-incentive policy. However, the profit-repatriation rate in the country is extremely high, which results in less capital being available for development. This paper studies the differences in profit-repatriation rates among FDI (foreign direct investment) firms in the Czech Republic after the appearance of tax-holiday incentives from 2008 to 2019. The precondition is to find the determinants of the repatriation rate of FDI firms, and the results show that the profit repatriation rate of FDI firms is positively affected by firm size and the liquidity of firms and negatively affected by investment opportunities and leverage. The paper divides FDI firms into several groups and examines the differences in repatriation rates between them before revealing the determinants of these differences. Firstly, there is no difference in profit repatriation between FDI firms with tax incentives and those without tax incentives. Next, we divide the FDI firms with tax incentives into two groups: those who still enjoy the tax incentives and those who no longer enjoy the tax incentives. The FDI firms with tax incentives that are in the tax-incentive period repatriate less than FDI firms with tax incentives that are not in the tax period any longer. The difference stems from the endowment effect, and three determinants that can reduce the repatriation rate of FDI firms that are no longer in the tax period are investment opportunities, leverage, and firm size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1990, global forest area has been reducing; tropical forests have suffered from different anthropogenic and natural factors that account for forest loss. Tropical deforestation is the second driver of anthropogenic emissions; increasing demand and investments in tropical forests drive these emissions. These forests attract significant foreign direct investments, but the effects of these investments on carbon emissions from land use, land-use change, and forestry are not well enshrined in the literature for the countries under study. This paper seeks to analyse the impact of foreign direct investments on carbon emissions from land use, land-use change, and forestry amongst 30 tropical forest countries from 1996 to 2019. The sampled countries were disaggregated by tropical blocs: Amazon, Congo basin, Australasia, and Southeast Asia, and by income levels; low-income, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income. The findings reveal a U-shape structure of the impact of FDI on carbon emissions from LULUCF within Congo basin and Amazon countries; at higher levels of FDI, emissions from LULUCF will increase while Australasia and Southeast Asian countries show an inverted U-shape impact, thus at higher levels of FDI, there will be a negative and significant impact on carbon emissions from LULUCF. The income levels reveal an inverted U-shape for low-income and high-income countries and a U-shape for upper-middle-income countries; the impact for lower-middle-income countries is not significant. Overall, for the whole sample, the impact depicts a U-shape. This paper proposes high-level development of environmental conditions for FDI for different sectors that align with country and regional green growth plans. Enhancing national and regional governance systems to enforce decisions and fight corruption effectively can significantly promote green FDI for green growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carrying out low-carbon economic cooperation under the belt and road initiative (BRI) is an important measure to actively respond to climate change and maintain global ecological security. With the continuous development of national strength, the Chinese government should actively fulfill environmental responsibility in the BRI economic cooperation. Existing studies have pointed out that the Chinese government can promote low-carbon economic cooperation in BRI through outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), and emphasized the significance of the Chinese government's participation. However, they have not revealed the relationship between China's environmental responsibility and the construction of a green BRI. To fill this gap, this paper analyzes the strategic choices and relevant influencing factors of the Chinese government, governments of countries along the BRI, and Chinese OFDI enterprises in the BRI low-carbon economic cooperation. Through parameter assignment and simulation, this paper draws the following conclusions: (1) The Chinese government should decide whether to take the initiative to fulfill environmental responsibility according to the economic development level of countries along the BRI; (2) The Chinese government fulfilling environmental responsibility is positive and effective for the responsible investment of Chinese OFDI enterprises; (3) The Chinese government fulfilling environmental responsibility can enhance the initiative of countries along the BRI to positive governance, but this enhancement is not last. More importantly, the environmental responsibility of the Chinese government is not simply to provide subsidies to countries along the BRI. Various measures must be taken by the Chinese government to fulfill its environmental responsibility in the BRI economic cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an international panel data set of the European pulp and paper industry, we address the issue of a possible home-bias effect for real investments in plants with foreign and domestic locations. We find that there is no effect after controlling for firm effects and plant and firm size. These findings are rubust to a number of different econometric specifications, including a difference-in-difference approach. Our findings appear to be relevant for the debate on the effect of foreign takeovers. As far as we are aware, home-bias effects in real investments within multinational firms have not been studied previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although concerns about the environment have been raised by some governments and the public in general, literature has explored the possibility that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) may flow from countries with strict environmental regulations to countries where the regulations are less stringent—the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH). In response to that tendency, some countries may implement less stringent regulations, in order to attract FDI, resulting in the race to the bottom effect (RTB). As the number of studies on this topic has expanded dramatically in the last two decades, the present work intends to provide an updated literature review on the relationship between FDI and environmental regulations. Through a bibliometric analysis, we evaluate the relevance of existing studies and identify possible trends. Results show that there is considerable empirical evidence for the PHH, but fewer studies confirm the RTB, and that topic has been increasingly analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on environmental quality has been discussed in the environmental economics literature over the last decades. Within this scope, the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) postulates that FDI inflows can cause environmental degradation in developing countries. Using data over the period 1993–2018 for 10 developing countries with current account deficits, this paper aims to test the validity of the PHH. Therefore, the paper examines whether or not developing countries face off a trade-off between financing current account deficits and environmental deterioration. The paper employs panel data methods that consider cross-sectional dependence. The empirical findings show that foreign direct investment inflows have no impact on environment, meaning the PHH does not dominate for these countries. Hence, the findings indicate that there is no trade-off between financing current account deficits and environmental deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency (EE) plays an important role in achieving the dual-carbon goal, and improving EE is thus indispensable. This paper evaluates the impact of carbon emission trading policy (CETP) on EE based on a difference-in-difference (DID) method, using 16-year data of 30 provinces and cities from 2005 to 2020. Conclusions are as follows: (1) CETP significantly promotes EE, and this conclusion still appears valid after robustness tests. (2) The positive impact of CETP on EE is more effective in regions of high foreign direct investment (FDI) and high government intervention (GOVI). (3) The positive impact of CETP on EE is through impact mechanisms of energy structure adjustment (ESA), green innovation (GI), and industrial structure upgrading (ISU). The findings in this paper may enrich current research in CETP and offer more pragmatic suggestions for policy advancement as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ninth paper, titled "Do the RMB exchange rate and global commodity prices have asymmetric or symmetric effects on China's stock prices". The Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aims to boost regional economic cooperation and connecting China to Asia, Africa, and Europe. Articles included in the special issue are listed as follows: The first paper, titled "Co-movement of commodity price indexes and energy price index: a wavelet coherence approach studies". [Extracted from the article]

This paper assesses the role shipping and logistics foreign direct investment (FDI) plays in developing country export performance, exemplified by the case of the large multinational corporation (MNC) Maersk's investments in Vietnam. The paper aims to generate a deeper understanding of how the introduction of advanced shipping and logistics services by a foreign investor contributed to export growth. The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of Maersk in Vietnam employing more than 100 interviews from Maersk, Maersk's clients, subcontractors, and industry experts conducted between 2003 and 2016, complemented and validated by primary commercial data from Maersk, and secondary industry- and market data. The paper finds that during that period, Maersk impacted Vietnam's export performance through five mechanisms: 1. Building infrastructure; 2. Creating connectivity and market access; 3. Reducing transaction and logistics costs; 4. Bringing buyers and sellers together; and 5. Upgrading export capabilities. While transport and logistics MNCs' role in building infrastructure and reducing trade costs is described in the literature, the paper provides novel insights into their role as intermediaries in trade that provide value chain access and transparency, reduce transaction costs for buyers and producers, and upgrade export capabilities. The paper suggests that Maersk's contributions to Vietnam's export growth from 2003 to 2016 in part can be attributed to its unique competitive advantages originating from its superior organization, technology, and capital intensity. The paper contributes to the literature by deepening it's understanding of the mechanisms through which large shipping and logistics MNCs influence developing countries' export-led industrialization; by proving novel insights into the role of Maersk in Vietnam's development path; and by providing and validating an analytical framework for analyzing shipping and logistics MNCs' role in export led development that may inspire future research, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pollution haven hypo thesis (PHH) postulates that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows can increase environmental deterioration in developing countries as multinational firms tend to transfer their dirty industries to these countries. Turkey, as a developing economy, has witnessed intense FDI inflows over the last decades. Within this scope, the goal of this paper is to examine whether the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) prevails in Turkey within the scope of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis over the period 1970–2016. To that end, the paper employs unit root and cointegration methods based on the nonlinear smooth transition models. The empirical findings of the paper indicate that both hypotheses are valid in Turkey. The findings also imply that environmental quality in Turkey is negatively related to electricity production from renewable energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) has been exacerbating fears in the European Union (EU) by being concentrated in strategically important sectors. To address worries about Chinese investments with efficient policies and to identify wanted and unwanted investments, it is crucial to understand the determinants of Chinese FDI flows to the EU. This paper employs panel data analysis to investigate these determinants, using data from between 2005 and 2018. Results show that market growth, political stability, corruption control, and trade relations are not statistically significant. However, the number of patent applications in the host country has a positive significant impact on Chinese FDI inflows, while FDI restrictions have a significant negative impact. Results of this paper indicate that the EU's recent FDI policy is targeting Chinese investments from the right angle and its screening mechanism, with improvements, can become the most efficient tool to handle Chinese investments in the bloc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (COCZs) which as a platform for China's foreign investment and trade has a potential impact on CO2 emissions, while strengthening bilateral investment and trade between China and the host countries. Since most of the COCZs are located in countries along the "Belt and Road," the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of COCZs on CO2 emissions of the countries along the "Belt and Road" and the mechanism of this impact. We constructed a panel data of 63 countries along the "Belt and Road" from 2000 to 2020, and conducted an empirical study using the difference-in-difference (DID) model. Our research result show that COCZs can significantly increase the CO2 emissions of the countries along the "Belt and Road." Then, we conduct a series of robustness tests and endogeneity test on the estimation results of the baseline model, and the results of the tests all support the conclusion reached by the baseline model. Our heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect of COCZs on CO2 emissions is more significant in Asian countries with lower national income or industrialization and higher country risk. Finally, we analyzed industrial value added and energy depletion as possible impact mechanisms, the results of mechanism model shows that COCZs can increase the industrial value added and then significantly increase CO2 emissions, but energy depletion was not an efficient mechanism. Our paper provides a new insight into the impact of bilateral economic and trade cooperation zones on CO2 emissions in host countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic recession caused by the restrictions on the spread of the Coronavirus disrupted the economic life of many countries. The primary purpose of the paper is to measure the impacts of intra-regional trade and investment on the green recovery of five Central Asian economies over 2010–2021 through employing annual data and the panel co-integration approach. The results confirmed that the degree of green trade openness positively and significantly affects the green recovery. The estimated coefficient of direct foreign investment is negative. The patent coefficient is not statistically significant, and the official exchange rate has a positive effect. Financial development has a positive and significant coefficient. The paper has several policy implications, such as enhancing green FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), supporting green innovation, and promoting green trade liberalism for scholars and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multinational investment has attracted mixed reactions from scholars and policymakers concerning their role and impact on job creation in host countries, particularly in developing economies. Using Ghana as a case study, this paper examines the impact of Greenfield investment on job creation. Proponents of multinational corporations (MNCs) argue that foreign direct investment (FDI) leads to economic growth, creates technological spillover, increases exports, and creates jobs, among other benefits. This has encouraged developing economies to adopt developmental strategies around MNC activities. Although most researchers have analyzed the impact of FDI on job creation, the unanswered question is: Does greenfield investment in Ghana lead to significant job creation in the formal sector? Extant literature considers FDI monolithic, without adequately differentiating between Green and Brownfield investments. Using granular data from the FDI Markets, this research paper fills this gap by empirically analyzing the Greenfield investment by 386 multinational companies in Ghana from 2003 to September 2020. Over the specified year range, these companies engaged in 500 projects across Ghana. Adopting the ordinary least square analysis (OLS), the study demonstrates that Greenfield investment has a statistically significant and positive impact on job creation in Ghana. Out of the 31 sectors, only the following sectors contribute significantly to job creation through Greenfield investment in Ghana: Consumer Products, Food & Beverage, Industrial Equipment, and Non-automotive transport OEM. This paper contributes to a better understanding of how government investment in fixed assets (GCF) such as roads, railways, and industrial buildings in the local economy should be managed efficiently so as not to spur inflation, which correlates negatively with jobs. Finally, this paper analyzes Chinese investments in Ghana, comparing them with U.S. investments, and examining their broader geopolitical implications, which highlights the importance of aligning foreign investments with national development strategies and adhering to international norms and standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to investigate the nonlinear relationship between ICT and CO2 emissions by controlling for economic growth, foreign direct investment, energy consumption, and trade openness. Using data from 16 Middle East and North African (MENA) countries over the period 1990–2019, we apply the Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) model, as introduced by (González A, Teräsvirta T, vanDijk D (2005) Panel smooth transition regression models. SEE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance, No. 604), to study the potential regime-switching behavior of the relationship between the variables. The results reveal the existence of a strong regime-switching effect between ICT and CO2 emissions. It was found that after reaching a certain threshold, ICT use and penetration starts to significantly mitigate environmental degradation. Our results show that high levels of ICT not only improve environmental quality but can also be part of the solution to combat the environmental challenges that the MENA region has faced over the past decades. In addition, to account for the potential endogeneity bias, we also develop and estimate a PSTR model with instrumental variables (IV-PSTR) using the approach of (Fouquau et al., Econ Model 25:284–299, 2008). The results obtained confirm those initially found by the PSTR model. The study concludes with policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study paper is to examine Jordan's mineral development and investment policies. Mining policies that attract foreign investment must handle both traditional investor concerns and some new challenges. The paper delves deeply into issues such as a country's geological, political, financial, regulatory, operational, fiscal, social, and environmental characteristics, as well as profit and marketing factors. After analyzing these criteria for Jordan, they were compared to the MENA region in order to provide insights into potential changes and improvements to both the MENA and Jordan mineral policies. International investors have not been drawn to Jordan's mineral resource sector for a number of reasons, including—but not limited to—a lack of digitally available and accessible geological data, lack of access to finance exploration projects, an unfavorable legal and fiscal environment, lack of many of the best practices for transparency standards, and lack of awareness and promotion of Jordan's mineral potential among international businesses. For Jordan to improve its standing in the world for investing in mining, it needs effective mining regulations, effective regulatory agencies, very lenient foreign investment laws, highly competitive tax system, enormous geologic potential, highly qualified personnel, exceptional local expertise and skills, modern infrastructure, and stable political and economic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a critical role in economic growth and development. It is imperative to examine factors such as socioeconomic, political, and environmental factors that are responsible for determining the potential to attract foreign investment. The paper attempts to evaluate the attractiveness of FDI in India in other words, the potential of India to attract foreign direct investment. Secondly, the study investigates the role of FDI potential in the real FDI inflow in the country. The paper constructs a comprehensive index for the attractiveness of foreign direct investment for India, which reflects the preparedness or potential of the country to provide a conducive environment for foreign investments. The study adopts principal component analysis (PCA) to formulate an index that reflects socioeconomic, political, and environmental aspects of FDI. Appropriate indicators are used to reflect all the dimensions, such as social, political, environmental, economic, infrastructure, and human capital. By regressing the FDI potential index on the interest rate, final consumption, public–private partnership, and potential for FDI on actual FDI inflow, the role of FDI potential is highlighted. It is revealed that FDI potential and FDI inflows are significantly positively correlated as well as significantly positively determine the FDI inflows as revealed by the regression results. Therefore, infrastructure, socioeconomic factors, and human capital also ensure political stability and governance are favorable in promoting more FDI inflow. In addition, the policies favoring public–private partnership and supporting all dimensions of FDI potential index must be promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research shows that domestic unrest, and especially violent conflict, raises political risk and discourages foreign direct investment (FDI). However, prior work primarily has studied private Western multinational corporations, not authoritarian China, the second largest overseas investor, which has both state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and privately-owned enterprises (POEs). This paper investigates the effects of domestic conflict on overseas Chinese FDI. We first compare Chinese SOE and POE investments in host states facing political unrest. Next, we disaggregate political unrest, examining the effect of violent and non-violent campaigns on Chinese SOEs and POEs. We then disaggregate the sector of FDI inflows. Contrary to prior conflict studies, we find host states under political unrest, and specifically violent campaigns, attract Chinese SOEs no matter the economic sector, whereas POEs are more risk averse. Our findings show that Chinese SOEs favor higher risk investments, suggesting the need for theoretical nuance in the domestic conflict and FDI literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to test the pollution haven hypothesis within the European Union (EU), especially among newcomer countries, through the participation in global value chains (GVCs). The study used a combination of multiregional input–output method and multilevel mixed econometric analysis to investigate the relationship between global value chain trade flows, foreign direct investment flows, energy consumption, and carbon emissions across countries, sectors, and time. The study tested both the "pollution haven" and "pollution halo" hypotheses and found a non-linear relationship between foreign capital flows and carbon emissions, which became less relevant after the economic integration process. The results suggest the existence of a pollution haven in Europe. Although Eastern economies still exhibit problematic issues in relation to pollution control, they have made significant progress in reducing their emissions intensity. The conclusions include some policy recommendations based on the main findings of the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into the performance of multi-asset funds investing internationally. Based on a custom-built conditional multi-factor model, which includes several bond and equity-related factors, along with time-varying betas and alphas, we show that funds in our dataset significantly underperform from 2004 to 2021. This evidence holds even on a before-fee basis, with funds investing predominantly in bonds exhibiting significantly higher alphas than funds investing predominantly in equities. Since multi-asset funds may better hedge against market downturns than equity or bond funds, given their higher asset class diversification, we also evaluate performance for crisis and non-crisis phases separately. The results show that, during market crises, international multi-asset funds perform significantly better than in non-crisis times, achieving neutral performance. However, while funds that favour bond investments perform similarly across different market phases, funds that prioritize equity investments perform significantly better during crises. Consequently, multi-asset funds with higher bond holdings can be a better option during non-crisis periods, while funds with higher equity holdings should be preferred during market downturns. This somewhat puzzling finding seems to be related to funds' cash holdings. By providing a better understanding of the asset allocation decisions of international mutual fund managers, as well as of their impact on fund performance, this work has meaningful implications for investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global regional trade agreements (RTAs) are experiencing unprecedented rapid development in terms of number and content of provisions, and China's RTAs are no exception. With the increase in the depth of RTA provisions, as an important form of economic and trade relations between countries, investment is bound to be affected. Taking the RTAs signed by China as the research object and using the bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) data provided by the International Monetary Fund CDIS database and the relevant data from the World Bank RTA text depth database, this paper constructs various indexes to measure the depth of RTA provisions and analyzes the effects of changes in the depth of RTA provisions on inward FDI stocks to China. The study finds that the improvement of all four depth indexes, namely, total depth, core depth, depth of WTO+ provisions, and depth of WTO-X provisions, significantly promotes China's inward FDI stocks. This conclusion still holds after a series of endogenous problem analysis and robustness tests. Further analysis shows that the improvement of the depth of RTA provisions has a relatively greater effect on FDI stocks from developing countries and countries along the "Belt and Road". At the same time, there exists significant heterogeneity in the effects of different RTA provisions on the FDI stocks. The insights that we obtain in this paper enable us to provide policy recommendations for the construction of China's global high-standard free trade agreement (FTA) network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the level of climate change and its effects on social, economic and environmental spheres is a key condition to achieve sustainable development goals in developing countries. This paper aims to analyse the effect of stringent environmental policy on the sustainable creation of wealth in developing countries. It focuses on the effect of multilateral environmental agreements on total factor productivity growth. An empirical analysis is conducted on panel data using a sample of 74 countries between 1995 and 2017. A quadratic regression is performed on a fixed-effects panel model, as well as on a Durbin spatial panel model using ordinary least squares, two-stage least squares and maximum likelihood. The results obtained show that MEA has a positive nonlinear short-term effect and a negative long-term effect on the growth of TFP in DCs. However, the long-term marginal effect increases with the foreign directs investments net inflows. Moreover, the results indicate that the spatial interdependencies between DCs are such that the participation of one DC in MEA favours the growth of TFP of its neighbouring countries. The paper also finds that the effect of MEA on the growth of TFP decreases with the country level of development, while this effect is greater in African and Latin America countries than in Asian and European developing countries. It is therefore recommended that developing countries join MEAs while improving their attractiveness to FDI through the improvement of the institutional framework and the promotion of good governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2005, China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has increased year by year, which corresponds to the continuous decline of energy intensity. But there is limited literature concerning their relationship nowadays. To answer whether or not OFDI can reduce energy intensity, this paper selects data from 29 provinces in China from 2006 to 2015 and establishes a fixed-effects model to analyze the relationship. Further, this paper divides OFDI into technology-intensive ones and non-technology-intensive ones in order to distinguish the impact of outward foreign direct investment from different types of enterprises on the energy intensity. Combined with the micro-data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, we find that OFDI plays a significant role in reducing the energy intensity in China, and OFDI of high-technology-intensive enterprises has a greater effect on the decrease of energy intensity than that of low-technology-intensive enterprises. This paper classifies OFDI from the perspective of enterprise technology intensity, which enriches the existing research results in the field of international cooperation and energy intensity. It also overcomes the limitations of previous literature data and provides new evidence for encouraging high-tech enterprises to strengthen international cooperation from a micro level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both "dual cycle" and "carbon neutral" policies have been implemented as national strategies in China. But will "dual cycle" policy help carbon neutral policy and how do "dual cycle" policy affect carbon neutral policy? This paper investigates whether unbalanced bidirectional foreign direct investment (FDI) hinders electricity efficiency. To do so, it uses the super slack-based version of the global Malmquist–Luenberger index to measure electricity efficiency in 30 provinces from 2001 to 2020. This paper uses panel threshold regression model, finds out that bidirectional FDI below 1.7174 will positively impact electricity efficiency, but the positive effects disappear when bidirectional FDI exceeds 1.7174. Thus, balanced bidirectional FDI in province is required to enhance electricity efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between external debt and economic growth has been extensively studied by researchers and policymakers. However, the link between external debt and domestic investment remains an underexplored area of research. Therefore, this paper investigates the nexus between external debt and domestic investment, using institutional quality as a moderator. The sample consists of 47 sub-Saharan African countries with data spanning from 1996 to 2021. The empirical findings from conventional and robust estimators indicate that external debt negatively and significantly hampers domestic investment, while institutional quality plays a significant moderating role in this relationship. Additionally, the benefits of debt can only be realized by the SSA region when the average quality of institutions is above − 1.174 on the scale of − 2.5 to 2.5. The in-depth analysis offers insights that high-quality institutions (above a certain threshold) can help countries leverage debt for positive outcomes by promoting efficient resource allocation and attracting further investment. Thus, policymakers are advised to uphold debt management strategies and institutional reforms, such as reducing corruption, improving property rights, and strengthening the rule of law, to ensure transparency in debt use and maintain a sustainable debt burden. This will create a more attractive environment for both domestic and foreign investment. The results remain robust to alternative methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present empirical evidence that higher income inequality is associated with a greater equity share in countries' external liabilities, and we develop a theoretical model that can explain this observation: In a small open economy with traded and non-traded goods, entry barriers depress entrepreneurial activity in non-traded industries and raise income inequality. The small number of domestic non-traded goods firms leaves room for foreign firms to operate on the domestic market, and it reduces external borrowing. The model thus suggests that barriers to entrepreneurial activity raise both inequality and the equity share in foreign liabilities. Our empirical results lend some support to this conjecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on the effect of trade openness on industrialization shows contrasting results. Using a new empirical framework, we contribute in this paper to the removal of this indeterminacy by studying the influence of trade openness on industrialization in a sample of Sub-Saharan African countries. We use the new measure of trade openness and approximate industrialization through three complementary indicators: manufacturing value-added as a percentage of GDP, manufacturing employment as a share of total employment, and the industrial competitiveness index. Estimations are carried out by a two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM). Over the period 1985–2014, our results show that in Sub-Saharan Africa, the level of industrialization is a decreasing function of trade openness. The magnitude of this negative effect is conditioned by very low levels of foreign direct investment and human capital. Our results, which stand up to many robustness checks, seem to support the implications of the infant industry argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a Chinese solution to build a community of human destiny, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has shown China's international responsibility by promoting its green development. Based on the annual panel data of Chinese cities from 2004 to 2018, this paper systematically explores the effect of BRI on the Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) of cities along its domestic route using the difference-in-differences (DID) method. The results of the study show that (1) BRI significantly increases the GTFP of cities along its domestic route, and this finding holds after excluding a series of robustness tests such as endogeneity issues and other policy disturbances. (2) BRI promotes the growth of GTFP in the region mainly through improving science and technology innovation, increasing foreign direct investment and enhancing trade cooperation. (3) From the perspective of heterogeneity, the promotion effect of BRI on the GTFP of inland cities along the route is much higher than that of coastal cities, and cities along the route with stronger environmental concerns have a more significant enhancement effect. (4) Based on the policy context and the undertaking of role functions, there is a significant positive linkage effect between BRI Initiative and the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) construction in promoting GTFP growth. (5) From a spatial perspective, BRI has not only increased the GTFP of cities along the route, but also radiated the growth of GTFP in neighboring cities along the route. The conclusion of this paper provides a policy reference and theoretical basis for further building the green "Belt and Road" and promoting the sustainable development of China's economy and high-quality transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation (GI) has the dual attributes of green development and being innovation driven, and it has become an inevitable choice for solving the prisoner's dilemma of environmental protection and economic development under the action of the concept of sustainable development in the new era. This paper aims to clarify how environmental regulation (ER) can achieve a win‒win situation of GI and environmental protection by using data from prefecture-level cities in China and creating a dynamic panel model, quantile model, spatial econometric model, and panel threshold model to empirically analyze the dynamic effect and spatial effect of ER on GI as well as the nonlinear characteristics of the relationship between them and to examine the moderating effect of foreign direct investment (FDI). The results show that ER significantly promotes the development of the GI level and that FDI can play a positive moderating role. The impact has regional heterogeneity, time period heterogeneity, and resource endowment heterogeneity. After several robustness tests, the empirical conclusions are still credible. Based on the empirical conclusions, this paper makes policy suggestions on ER, foreign investment introduction, and the coordinated development of regional GI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid development and agglomeration of manufacturing industries in China inevitably lead to serious environmental pollution problems. The government restrains development of manufacturing industries through environmental regulation policies, but this may affect manufacturing industries agglomeration. Therefore, studying the impact of environmental regulation (ER) on manufacturing agglomeration (MA) is a critical prerequisite for the sustainability of China's manufacturing industry. Based on the panel data of 41 cities in Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region of China from 2003 to 2017, this paper explores the threshold effect of ER on MA using a panel threshold model and analyzes the heterogeneity impact of ER on MA in different regions and analyzes the dynamic mechanism and contribution of each influencing factor on MA using a panel vector autoregressive model. The results show that (1) there is a double threshold effect of ER on MA, showing an inverted "U"-shaped effect of rising and then falling; there are threshold effects of ER on MA based on foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic development level (EDL). The effect of ER on MA has the threshold effect under different FDI and EDL level, in which the effect based on FDI shows an inverted "U" shape relationship of rising and then falling; the effect based on EDL shows a growing trend. (2) There are 29 cities in YRD region in the "weak regulation" or "strong regulation" stage, both of which are not conducive to MA. (3) ER has a facilitating effect on MA, but with the extension of forecast period, this facilitating effect turns into an inhibiting effect. MA is mainly influenced by itself and transportation conditions (TC). Our study can provide some insights for improving the ecological environment and promoting the development of manufacturing clusters in YRD region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, China's economy is transforming from rapid development to high-quality development, and environmental pollution stands out as an urgent need to be addressed. Fiscal decentralization is considered to confer economic incentives on local governments to obtain the right to gain and spend in economic growth. However, at the same time, political incentives are given to local officials under the promotion mechanism based on gross domestic product (GDP) assessment, and these two incentives become key to the environmental performance of the jurisdictions. Therefore, this paper incorporates fiscal decentralization, promotion incentives, and environmental pollution into a unified framework and theoretically analyzes the effects of fiscal decentralization, promotion incentives on environmental pollution, and the intrinsic mechanism of action. Using panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2002 to 2018, we examine that fiscal decentralization significantly promotes environmental pollution, and this performance is more obvious in economically underdeveloped regions. In terms of its mechanism of action, fiscal decentralization affects environmental pollution by increasing the demand for foreign direct investment, inhibiting technological progress, and enhancing environmental regulation, while foreign direct investment and technological progress significantly inhibit environmental pollution, but environmental regulation does not present a role of pollution control. Further study finds that under the consideration of "GDP-based promotion incentives," local officials will generate "competition for investment," relax environmental standards for FDI, and generate "competition for growth", which will inhibit technological progress and incomplete enforcement of environmental regulations, thus exacerbating local environmental pollution. On this basis, this paper proposes to further deepen the fiscal system reform, promote the optimization of local government competition system, and effectively restrain the vicious competition behavior of local officials under the fiscal decentralization system, so as to provide relevant insights for realizing China's economic transformation as well as high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the relationship between foreign direct investment, domestic credit to the private sector, energy supply and human capital on carbon emissions subject to the level of trade. In the interest of capturing this non-linear association, this paper utilises the fixed effect panel threshold model. Thus, deploying a panel dataset of BRICS economies from 2000 to 2018, the study produces important findings that trade exerts a considerable non-linear influence on environmental quality. In this context, the paper determines specific threshold levels upon which environmental quality either increase or decrease for the BRICS economies when either energy supply (1.5962, approximately $US 4.934 million), domestic credit to the private sector (1.6375, about $US 5.142 million), foreign direct investment (1.6375, about $US5.142 million) or human capital (1.6375, about $US5.142 million) increases. To ascertain the causation of included parameters, the Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test results are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green finance is gradually becoming essential to enhancing regional electricity consumption. This paper uses panel data from 30 Chinese provinces and regions from 2011 to 2021 and develops a system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and a mediating effect model to test the effects of green finance on regional electricity consumption level and the mechanism of action. The results show that green finance significantly boosts regional electricity consumption level, which still holds after various robustness tests. In terms of heterogeneity, the promotion effect of green finance on electricity consumption is significantly more substantial in the Eastern regions than in the central and western regions; the regions with a higher level of urbanisation are more robust than those with a lower level of urbanisation, and the regions with a higher level of the advanced industrial structure are stronger than those with a lower level. In terms of impact mechanisms, both foreign direct investment and green technology innovation have partial mediating effects on the impact of green finance on regional electricity consumption level. Green finance raises the level of regional electricity consumption by increasing the level of green technology innovation. At the same time, foreign direct investment has a "substitution effect" on the impact of green finance on regional electricity consumption. Therefore, it is essential to increase green financial policy support to raise regional electricity consumption, help upgrade electricity consumption, and help achieve the "double carbon goal". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early periods of history have demonstrated that enhanced economic development is fostered in instances where natural resources are abundant, hence averting the resource curse. In this vein, accelerated economic advancement is driven by a rigorous and proficient financial sector that efficiently utilises and allocates the economy's natural resources. A strong financial system that transforms resources into advantages rests on an advanced technological innovation base, superior human capital, distinct foreign direct investment, powerful trade, and sustainable energy consumption. While this paper investigates the nexus of these factors, the specific purpose of this research is to examine the interactive impact of financial development and natural resource rents on carbon emissions in the new BRICS economies for the duration of 1990 to 2019. The panel data generalised least squares (GLS) and the panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) techniques are adopted. The Dumitrescu and Hurlin technique is used to establish causality. The study found a U-shaped association between economic growth and emissions. The findings prove that the financial development of financial institutions and the financial development of financial markets' relationships with emissions are significantly positive. Natural resource rents, energy consumption, and human capital create a significantly positive relationship with emissions (mostly just positive for technological innovation). Conversely, the connection involving trade and carbon emissions is significantly negative (but mostly just negative for FDI). The interaction (s) intervening financial development of financial institutions and financial development of financial markets with natural resource rent significantly lowers emissions, respectively. The interaction parameter (financial development of financial institutions, natural resource rent, and financial development of financial markets) mixed with trade significantly adds emissions (positively insignificant with energy consumption). Contrarily, this factor mixed with human capital and technological innovation, respectively, is significantly negative (just negative for FDI). The Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel Granger causality outcomes are also outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persisting in opening up and achieving coordinated development of economy, society, and ecology is China's major strategies for achieving sustainable urbanization. Ecological efficiency is a reasonable indicator to measure the development level of a circular economy. Therefore, using the statistical data of 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2016, this paper uses the super-efficiency SBM model that considers undesired output to measure the eco-efficiency value, which is used to measure the level of circular economy development in each province. Based on this, a panel model is constructed to test the impact of circular economy and FDI on urbanization. The empirical results show that (1) there is a complex nonlinear relationship between the development of circular economy and the advancement of urbanization, and the shape of the curve varies with areas; (2) FDI under environmental regulation is conducive to promoting China's urbanization to achieve green, effective, and sustainable development; and (3) the development of the tertiary industry, human resources, innovation capabilities, and employment situation is conducive to promoting China's urbanization. Finally, based on the empirical results, this paper puts forward policy recommendations to achieve green, efficient, and intelligent development of Chinese cities by promoting the development of a circular economy and strengthening FDI screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the development concepts of "innovation, coordination, green, opening and sharing," a high-quality economic evaluation index system is constructed using city-level data in Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), China. Further, the spatial lag model is used to empirically study the effects of environmental regulation, foreign direct investment, and its interaction term on the high-quality economic development. The results show that environmental regulation is conducive to promoting high-quality economic development, which provides a certain empirical basis for the Porter Hypothesis. In addition, foreign direct investment also plays a significant positive role. Specifically, environmental regulation has positive impacts on the relationship between foreign direct investment and the high-quality economic development. Finally, this paper puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions, such as improving environmental regulation policy and actively introducing high-quality foreign direct investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seventeenth issue of Financial Innovation (FIN), Volume 5, No.4 (2019) presents twelve papers contributed by 36 authors and co-authors from thirteen countries and areas: China, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Nepal, North Cyprus, Pakistan, South Sudan, Turkey, Uganda, and USA. The sixth paper, "Assessing the spillover effects of U.S. monetary policy normalization on Nigeria sovereign bond yield", by Kpughur Moses Tule, Osana Jackson Odonye, Udoma Johnson Afangideh, Godday Uwawunkonye Ebuh, Elijah Abasifreke Paul Udoh and Augustine Ujunwa, reveals that domestic factors, such as exchange rate and inflation, rather than the U.S. 10-Year sovereign bond yield, are the key drivers of Nigeria 10-Year bond yield. The twelfth paper, "Impact of Risk Management Strategies on the Credit Risk Faced by Commercial Banks of Balochistan", by Zia Ur Rehman, Noor Muhammad, Bilal Sarwar and Muhammad Asif Raz, identifies risk management strategies undertaken by the commercial banks of Balochistan, Pakistan, to mitigate or eliminate credit risk. [Extracted from the article]

Citizenship and residency laws in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries developed during a similar time period, with similar influences, and as a result had common characteristics. In recent years, this has begun to change, with new pathways to permanent residency and citizenship developing in the region. This paper takes a comparative case study approach to analyzing the policy changes in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and then explores the implications thereof. Broadening the pathways for permanent residency and citizenship offers opportunities (e.g., reversing financial outflows, increasing domestic investment and savings, attracting foreign direct investment and skilled talent) while it also presents risks (e.g., contesting traditional forms of belonging and entitlement, reducing social cohesion, and creating new forms of inequalities). While new pathways have indeed emerged, these pathways are designed for specific types of people, defined by the criteria or requirements of them. The unique policies of the three countries imply unique directions for the economies, demographic transitions, and socio-political cultures of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of macroeconomic factors on co-movement in the foreign exchange rate markets. Data of foreign exchange rates from 24 merging markets is used to this end along with a dynamic spatial Durbin model as to examine spatial dependencies among markets. Our empirical findings show no evidence that cultural ties exert a role in spreading macroeconomic shocks in the exchange rate of a country to the exchange rates of other countries. Moreover, we show that economic closeness through foreign direct investment (FDI) and international bilateral trade is the most prominent channel in spreading macroeconomic shocks and spatial effects in emerging markets through the foreign exchange rates. In addition, geographical proximity reinforces the interdependence relationship of emerging markets. Our findings show that the co-movement of foreign exchange rate markets across the selected emerging markets is positively influenced by their gross domestic product (GDP) and interest rate differential and negatively affected by the terms of trade and remittance. In addition, we reveal that terms of trade, the inflation differential, and remittance are the most prominent fundamental factors affecting foreign exchange rate movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of financial globalization, cross-border capital flows hugely affect a country's economic conditions, but their cyclical properties remain controversial. This paper takes terrorist attacks as exogenous shocks to study whether financial openness helps an economy recover from a crisis through inducing capital inflows, or amplifies the adverse effects by allowing for capital flight. With a panel dataset from 1990 to 2016, we show that cross-border capital flows are largely pro-cyclical, especially for non-OECD countries. A higher level of financial openness is associated with net capital outflows in response to terrorist incidents, mainly due to the decrease of the aggregate capital inflows by foreign investors. This mechanism also applies to disaggregate cross-border capital flows such as FDI, portfolio investment and debt investment. Furthermore, there is no sign that exchange rate adjustment insulates non-OECD countries from net capital outflows following a terrorist attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on environmental quality has not reached consensus. This paper examines the potential structural break in the relationship between FDI and the environment from the perspective of economic scale. The results of the panel threshold estimation for 67 countries of different income groups show that the impact of FDI on carbon emissions shifts from positive to negative at different income level stages, using GDP as the threshold. This conclusion is further verified by the group regression results of the robustness test. When the GDP per capita is below $541.87, FDI shows a significant positive impact on carbon emissions, and this interval corresponds to a wide range of low-income economies today, however, when the GDP per capita exceeds $541.87, this positive impact almost disappears. The negative impact of FDI on carbon emissions manifests itself once the GDP per capita reaches $46515, and the sample countries corresponding to this interval since 2014 are mainly Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, the United States, Singapore, and Australia. Therefore, we call on countries to raise their income levels so that they can cross the lower threshold and thus take advantage of the emission reduction effect provided by FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the alarming rate of environmental degradation, all countries are looking for solutions to close their environmental gaps in order to ensure long-term sustainability. In order to achieve green ecosystems, economies seeking clean energy are motivated to embrace environmentally friendly practices that can support resource efficiency and sustainability. In this sense, the current paper addresses measuring the link between CO2 emissions, economic growth (GDP), renewable and non-renewable energy (RE), tourism, financial development, foreign direct investment, and urbanization in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The aim of this paper is to empirically evaluate the link between CO2 emissions and macroeconomic factors in the UAE. The UAE was chosen as the country for the case study as the UAE is one of the world's richest oil-based economies and one of the countries with the highest per capita income, adopts sustainable technologies, and has signed the Paris agreement supporting the transition to clean energy. To verify the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for UAE, the timespans for the years 1990–2021 have been chosen according to data availability. The long-run coefficients supported the EKC hypothesis of an inverted U shape for income and CO2 emissions, according to the findings. Notably, urbanization and financial development both reduce pollution while foreign direct investment increases environmental pollution. The study recommended the creation of more environmental policies to promote sustainable business operations and nationwide green awareness, increase the use of clean energy technology, reduce energy intensity, and achieve a net zero carbon target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balancing economic growth with resources and the environment to achieve sustainable development is a key issue in the development of all countries, and researchers are trying to find feasible development paths. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of human capital levels on green economic efficiency (GEE) and the underlying mechanisms in 280 prefecture-level cities in China and covering the 2003–2019 period. In addition, we calculate GEE including undesired outputs based on a super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM) model, and we construct panel regression and moderating effect models for empirical studies. The results of the baseline regression study show that the improvement in the human capital level contributes to the GEE of prefecture-level cities. Among the control variables, the economic development level, foreign direct investment (FDI), city size, and the science and technology innovation (STI) level positively affect GEE, while industrialization and environmental regulation negatively affect GEE. The study results concerning the mechanism of action indicate that industrial structure upgrading plays a positive moderating role. That is, industrial structure upgrading can strengthen the effect of human capital on GEE, which is further clarified. This study suggests that government policies must favor the cultivation of high-level human capital, especially in the environmental protection industry, and that talent support strategies should be differentiated between regions to promote industrial structure upgrading and human capital matching through green technology development. Modern human capital theory reveals the important role of human capital in improving economic efficiency and provides new ideas for achieving sustainable development. This paper explores the role of human capital in improving the GEE based on the human capital perspective, which is important for research on the pathways to achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of China's OFDI (outward foreign direct investment) is a unique feature of the "Belt and Road" project. Does China's OFDI have a green halo effect on countries along the Belt and Road (B&R)? Is this green halo effect somehow asymmetrical? What is the underlying mechanism? This paper systematically examines how China's OFDI exerts its influence on green technology spillovers, based on 56 B&R countries' 2003–2019 panel data. This study makes three significant findings: Firstly, China's OFDI has positive asymmetric characteristics in promoting green technology spillovers to host countries mentioned, which have lower income levels and openness. Secondly, strict relative environmental regulation can act as a "pressure pool," significantly enhancing the "green halo effect"; Thirdly, China's OFDI can help host countries obtain more green technology spillovers through three channels: expanding host countries' economic scale, upgrading host countries' industrial structure, and suppressing host countries' use of non-renewable energy. These findings point the way for 56 host countries to better accessing green technology spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As technological innovations gain the capacity to replace human labour, it is increasingly possible that artificial intelligence can lead to higher unemployment rates. This paper is devoted to forecasting unemployment that is based on artificial intelligence as an input of interest by using an artificial neural network learning process. The simulation is performed based on a sample including 23 of the most high-tech and developed economies, over the period from 1998 to 2016. The proposed artificial neural network with one layer and 10 neurons offers good results in terms of unemployment prediction, with an overall coefficient of determination of 0.912. Artificial intelligence input is a top contributor to the prediction of unemployment, along with foreign direct investment, total population, labour productivity, and lagged unemployment. Inflation and government size register a modest contribution. This suggests that forecasts that include this new variable will be more accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental resources play an extremely important role in economic development. In the context of China's economic development entering a new normal, attaching importance to environmental protection and strengthening environmental regulations will have an important impact on the original foreign direct investment (FDI) and China's economic development. Therefore, this paper combines the characteristics of the "new normal" of China's economic development, takes 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2017 as the research object, and uses the PVAR model and impulse response function to re-verify the interaction mechanism and path among environmental regulation, FDI and high-quality economic development. The study found that: (1) There is an obvious mutual promotion relationship between environmental regulations and the quality of China's economic development and economic development environment. Strengthening environmental regulation is conducive to the realization of China's economic "new normal" development goal. (2) Although the strengthening of environmental regulation will have a significant constraint effect on FDI and China's economic growth rate, but the effect is relatively small. (3) FDI and economic growth rate variables are mutually motivated and promote each other, but both of them have a significant inhibitory effect on regional environmental regulation. In general, under the background of the "new normal" of China's economic development, appropriately increasing the intensity of environmental regulation is not only conducive to environmental protection and promoting high-quality and sustainable economic development, but also can serve the purpose of guiding the structure of foreign investment and transforming the mode of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the advantages of international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), which can be the main factors of transferring technology to economies. More specifically, it seeks the importance of international trade and FDI as the main channels of technology transfer between countries either in a region or at the international level. In this context, relevant spillovers arising from trade and FDI play important roles in achieving economic growth, capital accumulation and economic well-being, providing a path for sustainable development. The main goal of this paper is thus to investigate the possible implementation of regional economic through cooperation in trade and investment in a region such as the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). Accordingly, the country members can benefit from spillover effects on their economic growth, as a major factor to appoint sustainable development. The relevant methodology relies on estimation of a panel economic growth model in which we have used the obtained empirical results to assess the effects of trade and FDI spillovers on economic growth over the period 1995–2018. The empirical results have indicated significantly positive effects of the spillovers on economic growth of the ECO country members, as the case study, implying sustainable growth in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment and environmental pollution have been a prominent topic in China's economic development. Therefore, this paper investigates the relationship between foreign direct investment and environmental pollution, and makes practical policy recommendations to support the harmonious development of economy and environment based on the study findings. In this paper, the spatial econometric approach framework with the spatial weight matrix of the Delaunay method is used to examine the influence of foreign direct investment on the level of urban air quality. It uses air quality index as an indicator to measure air pollution comprehensively. Based on the spatial autocorrelation with the aggregation and radiation effects of foreign direct investment, the results show that the distribution of air pollution has considerable spatial impact in terms of spatial nonequilibrium. Through the empirical analysis, our finding reveals that the increase in GDP, the share of secondary industry, and population growth are the important elements affecting the change in air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]