To satisfy human needs and desires, it is necessary to produce goods and services that require the use of some production factors, such as labor, capital, and energy, among others. Nowadays, energy is a key production factor for economic activity in all countries. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between energy, economic growth, urbanization, and financial development in the country-members of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) during the period of 1971-2015. Panel data Econometric methods are applied in this research, namely cross-section dependence (Pesaran test), unit root (Cross-sectional Augmented Dickey Fuller and Cross-sectional Im, Pesaran, and Shin tests), cointegration (Kao and Fisher-Johansen tests), and heterogeneous causality (Hurlin and Dumitrescu test). The results achieved in this research demonstrate that the variables of this model are characterized by a cross-section dependence, and they are integrated in order one. An equilibrium or long-term relationship between them exists. By means of the Fully Modified OLS and Dynamic OLS estimators it this demonstrated that there is a positive relationship between GDP and EC, while there is a negative relationship between FD, CPI, URB, and TO and EC. The economic policy recommendations drawn from this investigation are that financial development promotion, urbanization, and trade openness may contribute to reducing energy consumption in these countries. Appl. Sci. 2019, 9, 302 2 of 11 transparency among borrowers and lenders, fosters greater flows of financial capital and investment, and facilitates access to more efficient energy products, among other things, which can affect the demand for energy by increasing consumption and business investments [3,4]. Financial development affects the demand for energy through the following: (a) it allows consumers to access easier and cheaper loans of money to buy durable goods, such as cars, houses, refrigerators, washing machines, etc., which are large energy consumers that can affect the total energy demand of a country; (b) it allows businesses to access easier and less expensive financial capital, which can help create a new business or expand existing ones, such as buying or building more plants, employing more workers, and buying machinery and equipment [3,4].The economy, energy, and the environment are three important elements for the development of nations because the use of energy is vital to the world economy in the present and in the future. However, an increase in energy use generates increases in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, which cause environmental problems [5]. It would be expected that greater economic growth and economic development are related to higher levels of electricity and energy consumption in general; moreover, a greater amount of CO 2 emissions and resources from financial markets are required to fund economic development [6]. However, there are also authors who argue that financial development facilitates the reduction of energy consump...

This article examines the environmental Kuznets curve for the member countries of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), using the ecological footprint as a measure of environmental degradation during 1980–2016. Panel data econometric methods are applied in this research, such as the cross-section dependence, unit root, cointegration and causality tests, and the new method of moments quantile regression (MMQR). The results suggest that the variables are characterized by a cross-section dependence, integrated of order one, and cointegrated. The fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method shows that renewable energy reduces environmental degradation, and the environmental Kuznets curve is validated. In contrast, patents and trade openness do not show a statistically significant relationship. These results are confirmed with the MMQR, where renewable energy reduces environmental degradation in quantiles from 4 to 6, while the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is valid in quantiles from 3 to 9, and patents and trade openness do not show a statistically significant relationship in any quantile. Therefore, it is essential to promote renewable energies, cleaner technologies, and environmental regulations to reduce polluting emissions.

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This paper analyzes innovation trends in North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries by means of the number of patent applications during the period 1965 to 2008. Making use of patent data released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Network for Science and Technology Indicators (Red Iberoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología, RICYT), we search for presence of multiple structural changes in the patent applications series in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Such changes may suggest that firms' innovative activity has been modified in these countries (Mansfield, 1986). Accordingly, it would be expected that the new regulations implemented in these countries in the 1980s and 1990s have influenced their intellectual property regimes through the NAFTA and the TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. Consequently, the question conducting this research is how the new dispositions affecting intellectual regimes in NAFTA countries have affected innovation activities in these countries. The results achieved in this research confirm the existence of multiple structural changes in the series of patent applications resulting from the new legislation implemented in these countries.