Coal mining and environmental sustainability in South Africa: do institutions matter?

This study investigates the effects of coal mining on environmental sustainability in South Africa in relation to the moderating role of institutions. To achieve the study's objectives, the fully modified least square (FMOLS), dynamic least squares (DOLS), canonical cointegrating regression (CCR), Bayer-Hanck cointegration and Toda-Yamamoto causality test are employed for the period 1984-2018. Results from the study show that coal mining contributes to environmental degradation in South Africa, while its interaction with institutional quality mitigates the severity of this negative impact.

Closer together or farther apart: are there club convergence in ecological footprint?

This study empirically tests whether there is evidence of convergence in ecological footprint among 189 countries for the period 1990-2017. Using the novel log (t) regression model that accommodates likely transitional heterogeneity in the panel, the results provide evidence for the divergence of ecological footprint (EF) for the world sample. A similar empirical outcome was obtained for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Europe and Central Asia (ECA), East Asia and Pacific (EAP), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Spatial impact of foreign direct investment on ecological footprint in Africa.

This study examines the spatial impact of FDI on ecological footprint of 31 African countries. In achieving this, the study uses the Driscoll-Kraay (1998) random effect model, fixed-effect instrumental variable regression, and the spatial Durbin model. There are three main important findings from this empirical study.