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This study investigates the relationship between environmental performance, corruption and economic growth using panel data of 87 countries covering the period from 2002 to 2012. The Environmental Performance Index is used for the first time to evaluate the environmental quality on economic growth. By employing both ‘static’ and ‘dynamic’ panel models, we find that environmental performance is positively related to economic growth and is more significant in non-Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) countries. Moreover, when corruption is incorporated, the empirical estimation results indicate that although lower corruption helps economic growth in non-OECD countries, the negative coefficients of the three interactive terms show that the positive effect of environment performance on economic growth will drop, while greater environmental performance combined with natural resource abundance inevitably leads to inefficient bureaucracies and hence disadvantageous economic growth. As a result, policymakers in non-OECD countries should carefully ensure better government quality when they exhibit strong environmental performance so as to avoid any disadvantageous impact upon economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike most previous works which commonly define globalization as a strict economic characteristic, using the overall globalization index and its three sub-dimensions – economic, social and political integrations to proxy openness, this paper examines the effect of globalization on economic growth associated with autocratic institutional in China, using the a two-step dynamic panel generalized method of moments technique in a panel of 30 provinces, municipalities and the autonomous regions over the period of 1970–2006. We find that different globalization indices have different impacts on regional economic growth. Also, autocracy may harm regional development, but these conclusions are very sensitive to different globalization variables specifications. Further, considering the interactive effects between globalization and economic growth, we show that in the period of higher global integration, the higher democracy (lower autocracy) may harm economic growth in the case of China. We emphasize that democracy is clearly not a necessary condition for the purpose of economic growth in China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Globalization is commonly defined as a strict economic path by most previous works, but it is really a fuzzy concept with unrestrained dimensions. While the ideological location of an incumbent political party is a powerful predictor of its policy position, the role of a political party in the globalization-growth nexus has never been fully empirically investigated. By applying Pedroni's panel cointegration technique instead of a time-series or traditional panel data approach, this paper aims to empirically re-examine the co-movement and the causal relationship among economic growth, the overall globalization index, and its three main dimensions—economic, social, as well as political integrations—by using panel data for 23 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries for 1970 to 2006. Certainly, the political party variable is taken into account as the advanced test is promoted, and we finally discover that all variables move together in the long run. Based on the results of the panel causality test, though the evidence of short-run causality is very weak, it does show long-run unidirectional causality running from the overall index of globalization, economic globalization, and social globalization to growth. Finally, the critical role of the political party is deeply discussed in relation with our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper considers the possibility of both a linear effect and nonlinear effect of energy consumption on economic growth, using data for the period 1955–2003 in Taiwan. We find evidence of a level-dependent effect between the two variables. Allowing for a nonlinear effect of energy consumption growth sheds new light on the explanation of the characteristics of the energy-growth link. We also provide evidence that the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Taiwan is characterized by an inverse U-shape. Some previous studies support the view that energy consumption may promote economic growth. However, the conclusion drawn from the empirical findings suggests that such a relationship exists only where there is a low level of energy consumption in Taiwan. We show that a threshold regression provides a better empirical model than the standard linear model and that policy-makers should seek to capture economic structures associated with different stages of economic growth. It is also worth noting that the energy consumption threshold was reached in the case of Taiwan in the world energy crises periods of 1979 and 1982. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Using panel data unit root tests and panel cointegration tests, as well as estimation techniques appropriate for heterogeneous panels such as the full modified OLS, this paper re-examines the long-run co-movement and the causal relationship between GDP and social security expenditure in a bivariate model, employing data on 25 OECD countries from 1980 to 2001. Our cointegration test results show strong evidence in favour of the existence of a long-run equilibrium cointegrating relationship between GDP and social security expenditure after allowing for a heterogeneous country effect. Regarding the panel-based error correction model, we find that GDP and social security expenditure lack short-run causality, but reveal the existence of long-run bidirectional causality. This shows that, in the long run, economic growth must be based on a social welfare policy that should be carried out, and economic growth can facilitate contiguous development in a social welfare policy. Lastly, we also provide evidence to support that social security expenditure can affect growth through the savings and human capital accumulation in OECD countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Natural resources, especially forests, are critical to China's sustainable development. In recent years, effective utilization of forest resources has become a significant concern in China. In this study, on the basis of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, the relationship between forest resources and economic growth is examined using panel data from 30 provinces in China for the period 2002–2015 and the generalized method of moments (GMM) approach to control for potential endogeneity. The empirical results indicate that with continuous economic growth, the timber output and area of afforestation would at first increase and then decrease after reaching the corresponding turning points. Given the considerable regional gap in economic and social development, three regions of China were investigated to perform a more in-depth analysis. Evidence observed for the country and the three regions suggests an EKC for forest resources. These findings indicate positive effects of China's pursuit of a more balanced growth path where forest resources would be less consumed and more actively protected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]