1. Ecological security and agricultural production in the Arab League: Is financial development moderating the interaction?
- Author
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Satrovic, Elma, Gyamfi, Bright Akwasi, Alola, Andrew Adewale, and Agozie, Divine Q.
- Subjects
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ENVIRONMENTAL security , *ENERGY consumption , *AGRICULTURAL productivity , *ENVIRONMENTAL quality , *KUZNETS curve , *GROSS domestic product - Abstract
The jeopardizing of ecological security due to the detrimental effects of human activities necessitates the adoption of various actions to reduce ecological intensity. Though some studies have explored the moderating impact of financial development (FND) towards achieving ecological security, in Arab World it has not been thoroughly investigated. Against this backdrop, we investigate combined role of agricultural production (AFP), gross domestic product (GDP), energy consumption, population, direct and moderating impacts of FND on ecological intensity for a panel of 12 Arab League member states from 1995 to 2021. The empirical outcomes unveiled that AFP and GDP have U-shaped nexus with ecological intensity. It posits that at early stages of AFP, ecological intensity is reduced to a certain level, beyond which higher AFPhinders ecological security supporting the evidence against the Borlaug hypothesis. Our findings further unfolded that environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis does not hold for the selected Arab League member states, denoting that real GDP has a U-shaped relationship with ecological intensity. Further findings confirm that energy consumption induces ecological deterioration in the absence of its interaction with FND, along with the interaction term. The causality results largely support these outcomes. Based on these findings, Arab League's climate-related policies should further explore FND to drive energy transition and environmentally friendly measures. • Examination of Borlaug and EKC hypotheses in the Arab League. • Borlaug hypothesis is validated i.e. of a U-shaped nexus between agricultural production and ecological intensity. • EKC hypothesis is invalid i.e. Real GDP per capital has a U-shaped relationship with ecological intensity. • Neither the aspect of financial markets and institutions promote environmental quality. • Energy usage, population, and financial development spur ecological deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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