This paper examines the direct and interactive impacts of trade facilitation and institutions on sustainable economic growth (SEG) for 41 Sub-Saharan African economies from 2005 to 2019. The study explores the components of trade facilitation focusing on costs, documents and days (exports and imports) with the aggregated index (TFindex) and institutions, including voice and accountability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, political stability and violence, and control of corruption, used on GDP per capita growth. The empirical evidence relies on the two-step dynamic-system generalized method of moments estimator, accounting for endogeneity, simultaneity, measurement error and reverse causality concerns. The study finds that facilitating trade procedures is a viable option for achieving SEG in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. In addition, institutions driven by government effectiveness, political stability, and regulatory quality are boosters to SEG in the region. Lastly, the interactive impacts of trade facilitation and institutions positively predict the SEG. The study suggests that achieving efficient trading procedures and a sturdy institutional framework will enhance full exploration of the growth potential in SEG. K E Y W O R D Sdynamic-system generalized method of moments, institutions, Sub-Saharan African countries, sustainable economic growth, trade facilitation | INTRODUCTIONThe urgent need to tackle the persistent challenges hampering economic, social and environmental sustainability in the past few decades has witnessed a series of efforts and policy suggestions from governments, policymakers, and national and international organizations. Prominent among these efforts in recent times is the convergence of world leaders from 193 countries across the globe in September 2015, which led to a series of agreements on common and ambitious global goals: "Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". The Agenda is a well-thoughtout action plan for people, the planet, prosperity, peace and partnership on a set of 17 goals and 169 targets. The motivation behind these goals is the need to build on the achievements recorded in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and further pursue the targets not met. For instance, while the Millennium Development Goal of reducing extreme poverty by 2015 was met, statistics still show that more than 800 million people globally are extremely poor,
The global economy is experiencing the most challenging era of climate change beyond what is evident in the pre-industrial age. Although Africa's share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) is minimal, the ensuing effects hit hard on the continent. Hence, the present study provides the first comprehensive empirical assessment of environmental sustainability in Africa within the novel STIRPAT framework. This study critically examines the impacts of natural resource dependence, renewable energy, urbanization, technological innovations, and structural transition on environmental pollution proxied by carbon emissions, ecological footprint, and PM2.5 air pollution from 1990 to 2019 in five top carbon-emitting African countries. The empirical evidence is based on advanced panel estimators comprising CS-ARDL, CCEMG, and AMG robust to cross-sectional dependence (CSD). The quantile regression efficient for exploring the conditional distribution effects is equally employed alongside Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel granger causality test. The preliminary tests reveal the presence of CSD and heterogeneity of the series, which led to the conduct of second-generation unit root and cointegration tests. The main empirical results show that renewable energy, technological innovations, and structural transition reduce environmental pollutants from surging based on the observable negative signs. By implication, these indicators support Africa's path to environmental sustainability. On the flip side, resource dependence and urbanization amplify the surge. The feedbacks from quantile regression provide sturdy support for the main estimators. The granger causality feedbacks support the existence of bidirectional and unidirectional causality among the variables. Based on the findings, policies that promote sustainable environment are formulated.
The present era is facing a dilemma relating to engaging the essentialities of energy resources to attain economic prosperity due to the ensuing environmental complications. Consequently, sectors such as transport, aviation, and refining industries are under the scrutiny of reducing their reliance on fossil fuels achievable with the promotion of hydrogen energy which is largely neglected in the environmental empirics. To this end, the environmental impacts of green hydrogen in the top seven hydrogen-consuming countries are assessed from 1995 to 2019. Moreover, the roles of green finance, environmental-related technologies, energy efficiency, and digitalization are considered in the model specified within the STIRPAT framework. Second generation estimators comprising cross-section autoregressive distributed lag, Common Correlated Effect Mean Group, Augmented Mean Group, and Method of Moment Quantile Regression are employed in evaluating the stated hypotheses. Feedbacks from the analysis uncovered that green hydrogen; green finance, environmental-related technologies, energy efficiencies, digitalization, and structural change promote environmental sustainability in the top seven hydrogen-consuming countries. Contrariwise, natural resource dependence and urbanization trigger CO2 emissions, thereby exacerbating environmental complications. Based on the findings, policy measures leading toward sustainable environment are suggested.
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