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The mounting level of environmental degradation in Malaysia constitutes a grave issue to analysts and policymakers because it has adverse impact on climate change and human lives. This study is motivated by the dearth of a comprehensive research on the environmental impact of sectoral growth. It focuses on sectoral growth because of the need to strike a balance between the economic and environmental impacts of the agricultural, industrial, and financial sectors in Malaysia. Therefore, this study analyses the environmental impacts of the agricultural, industrial, and financial sectors in Malaysia during 1980–2018. It uses ecological footprint and carbon emissions as indicators of environmental degradation to properly capture various aspects of environmental degradation. It employs the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) procedure. This study contributes to the extant literature by showing that the agricultural, industrial, and market-based financial sectors aggravate carbon emissions while the bank-based financial sector mitigates carbon emissions in Malaysia. However, the impacts of the agricultural, industrial, and financial sectors on ecological footprint are tenuous. Though the EKC hypothesis is verified, energy consumption worsens ecological footprint and carbon emissions. The findings are robust to structural breaks and satisfactory diagnostic tests. This study implies that the agricultural, industrial, and financial sectors are significant determinants of carbon emissions. Since Malaysia cannot afford to sacrifice sectoral development for environmental sustainability, it is necessary for stakeholders to embrace environmental-friendly techniques that can boost sectoral development without compromising environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of energy consumption, military spending and information and communication technology (ICT) on CO2 emissions for the Group of Twenty (G20) countries using panel data covering the period from 1980 to 2019. This study employs cross-sectional dependence tests, unit root tests, and the Westerlund co-integration tests to explore the reliable, consistent, and unbiased long-run associations between the variables. Moreover, it uses the panel ARDL approach and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation to confirm the robustness of the findings, as well as addresses the endogeneity issue. This study reveals the significant and positive impact of military spending, energy consumption and ICT on CO2 emissions. The results imply that higher military expenditure, energy consumption, and technological advancement in ICT cause greater CO2 emissions, which affect the environmental sustainability. The findings have several implications for the governments of G20 countries, regulatory bodies and international organizations, and advises the policymakers to take appropriate action to control the CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent vote by Britain to quit the European Union (EU) and the political pressures in some member countries to exit the EU necessitates a critical evaluation of the long-run economic benefits of economic integration or union to member countries. Consequently, this paper examines recent empirical studies on the nexus between economic integration and economic growth in developed and developing countries. It also investigates the literature concerning the impact of financial integration on economic growth. Evidence from the study shows that although other views exist, there is overwhelming support for the growthenhancing effects of economic integration, albeit common currency adoption has an insignificant effect on economic growth. The channels through which economic integration exerts its influence on economic growth include capital accumulation, productivity growth, trade, and financial integration. However, the study shows that the impact of financial integration on economic growth is inconclusive. Based on the findings, the study draws some implications and policy options.

This study examines the impacts of globalization and energy consumption on economic growth in 10 low‐income countries during the 1990–2017 period. It also determines the causal relationship between globalization and energy consumption. It disaggregates overall globalization into economic, social, and political dimensions, as well as disaggregates total energy consumption into renewable and non‐renewable energy. It employs the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares, Instrumental Variables approach, and Dumitrescu‐Hurlin Granger non‐causality technique to account for heterogeneity, endogeneity and cross‐sectional dependence. The results show that overall globalization has a positive impact on economic growth in low‐income countries. But when it disaggregates globalization into economic, social and political dimensions, the results reveal that social and political dimensions boost economic growth while economic dimension undermines economic growth. Moreover, the results show that energy consumption is a significant determinant of economic growth. But when it disaggregates energy consumption into renewable and non‐renewable energy, the results reveal that non‐renewable energy consumption has a positive impact on economic growth, while the impact of renewable energy consumption is tenuous. The results also show a unidirectional causality from globalization to energy consumption, suggesting that globalization enhances energy consumption. This study implies that overall globalization and total energy consumption are significant determinants of economic growth, Therefore, efforts to accelerate economic growth should incorporate both globalization and energy consumption in low‐income countries. However, low‐income countries should appraise the dimensions of globalization and energy consumption that are not growth‐enhancing with a view to making them drivers of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the drivers of environmental degradation in ASEAN + China. It focusses on three unresolved questions: (i) Does the inclusion of China in ASEAN panel aggravate environmental degradation, given that China is a high carbon emissions country? (ii) Does financial development moderate the impact of energy consumption on environmental degradation in ASEAN? (iii) Does urbanization moderate the impact of energy consumption on environmental degradation in ASEAN? It employs empirical strategies that account for heterogeneity, endogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. The results show that economic growth, energy consumption and non-renewable energy aggravate environmental degradation, whereas renewable energy, foreign direct investment and trade openness mitigate it. The inclusion of China in ASEAN panel weakens the EKC hypothesis. Financial development favorably moderates the effect of energy consumption on environmental degradation in ASEAN, but adversely moderates the effect in ASEAN + China. Urbanization adversely moderates the impact of energy consumption on environmental degradation in both panels. Hence, efforts to address environmental degradation should consider these different drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism and globalization are considered as drivers of economic growth since they boost income, job opportunities, infrastructural development, international trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, and technological diffusion. However, the economic benefits of tourism and globalization could occur at the expense of increased energy consumption (from fossil fuels) and other pollution-intensive activities that worsen environmental degradation, especially in countries with lax institutions and environmental standards. The roles of tourism, globalization, and their interaction term on environmental degradation have not been thoroughly investigated. Hence, this study analyzes the moderating role of globalization on the impact of tourism on environmental degradation (carbon emissions and ecological footprint) in 31 African countries using different dimensions of tourism and globalization. It uncovers the marginal effect of tourism on environmental degradation at different levels of globalization. It utilizes strategies that account for cointegration, dynamism, endogeneity, heterogeneity, cross sectional dependency, and causality. Evidence from this study shows that globalization and its dimensions play favorable moderating roles on the impact of tourism on carbon emissions. The marginal effect of tourism on carbon emissions decreases as globalization increases, suggesting that a simultaneous increase in tourism and globalization can mitigate carbon emissions. However, no evidence to show that globalization can mitigate the environmental impact of tourism on ecological footprint. The findings differ probably because carbon emissions and ecological footprint measure different aspects of environmental degradation. This analysis emphasizes the need for countries to consider the interaction between tourism and globalization in their quest to ensure environmental sustainability. JEL Classification: F64, Q53, Z32 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the variables that moderate the impact of financial development on economic growth based on theoretical and empirical evidences. We show that financial and economic development, institutions and macroeconomic stability are the fundamental variables that moderate the finance‐growth nexus. Specifically, higher levels of financial and economic development, institutional quality and macroeconomic stability promote the impact of financial development on economic growth, while lower levels of these variables could have the opposite effect. We also show that too much finance is deleterious to economic growth, suggesting the existence of a threshold level of financial development beyond which further finance inhibits, rather than enhances growth. The economic implication of this study is that a stable macroeconomic environment, higher level of institutional quality, optimum financial and economic development are necessary conditions for finance to accelerate growth. Hence, countries that want to promote economic growth through the financial sector should give adequate priority to these variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]