The study investigates the long-run impact of tourism development on ecological footprint by employing the time-varying coefficient cointegration approach (TVC), in addition to the conventional cointegration techniques in the case of Azerbaijan for the period of 1996–2014. Based on the TVC estimation results, the coefficient of tourism development, which is the income elasticity of environmental degradation, was found to be time invariant. The paper uses energy consumption, trade, urbanization, and institutional quality indicators as control explanatory variables. The estimation results revealed that trade and energy consumption have statistically significant and positive impact on ecological footprint, while the coefficients of the other explanatory variables were found to be insignificant. Both the conventional estimation methods and the TVC concluded that, for the relationship between ecological footprint and tourism development, the EKC hypothesis is not present in Azerbaijan. Policy implications for the resource-rich economies have been discussed.

This study investigates the relationship between energy consumption, financial development, economic growth, and energy prices in Kazakhstan, utilizing VECM technique to the data spanning from 1993 to 2014. Estimation results reveal that there is a positive and statistically significant impact of financial development and economic growth on the energy consumption while, energy prices proxied by CPI has a negative effect on energy consumption in the long run for the Kazakhstani case which are in line with the expectations and with the theoretical findings. This finding also shows that a 1% increase in financial development and economic growth increases energy consumption by 0.11 and 0.39%, respectively.

Abstract:The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of bank profitability in 13 post-Soviet countries. Within this scope, annual data between 1996 and 2016 is analyzed by using fixed effects panel regression and the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). It is concluded that loan amount, non-interest income and economic growth are significant indicators of profitability. Moreover, the 2008 global mortgage crisis has a negative influence on bank profitability in post-Soviet countries. According to the estimation results, there is a positive relationship between non-interest income and economic growth with profitability. This result shows that when non-interest income of the banks increases, such as credit card fees and commission, it affects the financial performance of the banks, positively, and contributes to bank profitability. Another result of this study is that economic growth positively influences bank profitability. This result allows us to conclude that higher GDP comes with higher bank profitability for post-Soviet countries. Lastly, there is a negative relationship between loan-to-GDP ratio and profitability of the banks in post-Soviet countries. This means that when the ratio of total loans to GDP increases, it affects financial performance of the banks in a negative way. While considering this result, it is recommended that banks in post-Soviet countries should focus on ways to increase their non-interest income. Additionally, it is also significant for these banks to be careful and risk averse when lending to their customers.

This paper examines the relationship between energy consumption, financial development, and economic growth in an oil-rich economy-Azerbaijan-employing cointegration techniques to the data ranging from 1992 to 2015. The results confirm the existence of a long-run relationship among the variables. Also, we find that there is a positive and statistically significant impact of financial development and economic growth on energy consumption in the long-run. The positive and statistically significant coefficient of financial development and decreasing volatility in the proxy for financial development over time can be considered as improvements in the financial system. Estimation results show that a 1% increase in financial development, proxied by the private credit indicator, and economic development increases energy consumption by 0.19% and 0.12%, respectively. The positive and significant impact of financial development on energy consumption on the backdrop of relatively cheaper energy prices due to rich oil and gas resources, should be considered by policymakers in their energy use, financial development, and economic growth related decisions.

The study analyzes the impact of economic growth, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and oil price on renewable energy consumption in Azerbaijan for the data spanning from 1992 to 2015, utilizing structural time series modeling approach. Estimation results reveal that there is a long-run positive and statistically significant effect of economic growth on renewable energy consumption and a negative impact of oil price in the case of Azerbaijan, for the studied period. The negative impact of oil price on renewable energy consumption can be seen as an indication of comfort brought by the environment of higher oil prices, which delays the transition from conventional energy sources to renewable energy consumption for the studied country case. Also, we find that the effect of CO2 on renewable energy consumption is negative but statistically insignificant. The results of this article might be beneficial for policymakers and support the current literature for further research for oil-rich developing countries.

This paper investigates the CO2 emissions–economic growth relationship in Kazakhstan for the period 1992–2013. Johansen, ARDLBT, DOLS, FMOLS, and CCR cointegration methods are used for robustness purpose. We start with the cubic functional form to rule out any misleading results that can be caused by misspecification. Although the estimation results suggest “U”-shaped relationship, the turning point of income is out of the period. It means that the impact of economic growth on CO2 is monotonically increasing in the long run indicating the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis does not hold for Kazakhstan. Moreover, we calculate that the income elasticity of CO2 is about unity. The paper concludes that the Kazakhstani policymakers should focus on less energy-intensive sectors as well as using more renewable energy in order to avoid higher pollution effects of economic growth. They may also set new policy regulations for CO2 reduction.

This research investigates the impact of oil price, income and carbon dioxide emissions on renewable energy consumption in Russia for the data period from 1990 to 2015, using the Vector Error Correction Models and the Canonical Cointegrating Regression method. This article is the only study conducting individual time-series analysis that emphasizes the effect of oil price on renewable energy consumption in the case of Russia. The results of empirical analysis conclude that oil price affects renewable energy consumption negatively. The negative oil price effects on renewable energy use can be interpreted as a sign of issue that stems from higher oil prices and slows the transition from conventional to renewable energy sources. Additionally, we found that there is a positive and statistically significant influence of real GDP per capita as a proxy of income on renewable energy consumption, whereas the carbon dioxide emissions have a negative and statistically insignificant influence on renewable energy consumption. Considering these empirical results, Russia, which has a significant share in energy production in the world, should focus on the use of renewable energy in order to maintain this superiority and its sustainability. The findings of this paper may be useful to policymakers and may help to contribute to existing literature for future research in the case of oil-exporting countries.

This study investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on exports in the case of Jordan, employing Autoregressive Distributed Lag Bounds Testing (ARDL BT) cointegration approach to the data ranging from 1980 to 2018. The results indicate that there is a long-run relationship among the variables. Also, we find that there is a positive and statistically significant impact of FDI on export in the long-run. The estimation results indicate that a 1% increase in FDI increases exports by 0.13%.