Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of corruption on the environmental quality in Tunisia. Indeed, the post-revolution period is characterized by a remarkable increase in the rates of corruption.
Design/methodology/approach
The direct and indirect effects of control corruption on economic growth and CO2 emissions in Tunisia have been examined using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration framework among corruption, growth and CO2 emissions.
Findings
Results substantiate a positive and significant relationship between control of corruption and economic growth, a negative and significant relationship between control of corruption and environmental quality (CO2) and a negative and significant relationship between control of corruption and energy consumption. The findings suggest that while the control of corruption contributes to economic growth, its positive effect could be transposed indirectly via its impacts on environmental quality.
Originality/value
A strategy against corruption will reduce CO2 emissions; however, its positive effect on economic growth indirectly contributes to reverse this relationship.
Given the increase in the number of terrorist attacks in African countries, a better understanding of the relationship between terrorism, the informal economy and public debt is essential for policymakers. The model is empirically tested for 47 countries during the period 1996–2015. We use ordinary least squares (OLS), random effects (ER) and system generalized method of moments (GMM). Three terrorism indicators are used: the uncertain, the domestic, and the transnational. The results confirm that the rise in terrorism and the informal economy lead to an increase in public debt. The results also show that the informal economy magnifies the effect of terrorism on public debt. In addition, the results suggest that a larger informal economy reduces income taxes and therefore increases public debt and the increase in public spending reinforces the effects of terrorism on public debt. The reduction of terrorism should therefore be governments’ primary political objective. Given the detected complementarity between terrorism and the informal economy, the reduction of terrorism would also reduce the size of the informal economy and the public debt. The reduction of terrorism will also minimize the harmful effects of terrorism on public debt through public spending.
This study examines the impact of terrorist attacks on the formal and informal economy for 47 African countries during the period 1996–2015. Four terrorism indicators are used, namely, domestic, transnational, uncertain and total terrorism. The empirical results are based on the two‐step Generalized Method of Moments in system. Three key findings are established. First, all terrorist indicators affect negatively the formal economy and positively the informal economy. This effect may be due not only to the size and maturity of the African economy, but also to the adoption of less conservative public policies. Second, an aggregate analysis identifying the impact of terrorism on various macroeconomic variables sheds light on the impact of terrorism on the overall situation of the African economy. Third, compared to domestic terrorism, transnational terrorism more significantly and negatively affects the formal economy and positively affects the informal economy. Political implications are discussed.
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