This paper examines the importance of tourism as a conditioning factor for improving the host population's standard of living. In so doing, the well-known conditional convergence approach of Barro and Sala-i-Martin is used to test for convergence in per capita income among four Southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain), each with a long tradition as a tourist destination. The empirical analysis uses panel data techniques to estimate growth equations, combining time-series and cross-sectional data for the four countries, from 1990 to 2004. The results indicate that tourism contributes significantly to the improvement of the standard of living in these countries and acts as a factor of convergence.

Tourism, Conditional convergence, Accommodation capacity, Panel regressions, C23, D12, L83,

The relationship between renewable energy sources and economic growth has attracted the interest of researchers in recent years. However, the analysis has focused mostly on measuring the impact of renewable energy consumption on economic performance (such as economic growth) that does not reflect the quality of standards of living. We employ a different approach measuring the impact of renewable energy consumption on the Human Development Index (HDI) that considers these qualitative characteristics associated with better health and educational standards along with income performance. Additionally, we develop a simultaneous equation system approach that describes the interrelations between economic variables, renewable energy and pollution emissions with feedback effect tendencies. We provide robust evidence using panel data for a set of 28 OECD countries over the period 2004-2015. The system of equations is estimated by 3sls considering a static and dynamic specification of the model. It is shown that renewable energy consumption along with human and physical capital are important factors for explaining the sustainable development level of the countries considered. Renewable energy consumption is mostly determined by higher levels of human capital, the R&D spending and the stage of countries' development. Factors like the stage of development, total energy consumption, renewable energy consumption and standard levels of education are important elements for explaining environmental pollution (measured by CO2 emissions per capita). It is also established a non-linear relationship between the countries` stage of development and carbon emissions.

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