Analyzing the impact of fiscal conditions on private health expenditures in OECD countries: a quantile ARDL investigation.

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries have embraced the aim of universal health coverage, as established in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.8. This goal guarantees access to quality healthcare services without financial hardship or poverty.

On the link between shadow economy and carbon dioxide emissions: an analysis of homogeneous groups of countries.

In the framework of an environmental Kuznets curve, the linkage between shadow economy and carbon dioxide (CO) emissions was evaluated for 145 countries from 1991 to 2017. In assessing the effect of the shadow economy on CO emissions, we used panel quantile regression, panel fixed effects, and panel smooth transition regression as estimation methods. In addition, to deal with parameter heterogeneity, we resorted to the procedure of Lin and Ng (2012).

Exploring necessary and sufficient conditions for carbon emission intensity: a comparative analysis.

This research investigates the factors influencing carbon emission intensity in 94 countries during 2018 using two qualitative methods: necessary condition analysis (NCA) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The study covers variables related to economics, human geography, energy, and institutions, showing significant variations among them. The NCA model identifies economic complexity and fossil energy consumption as necessary conditions for high-carbon emission intensity.

Investigating the determinants of carbon emissions in the USA: a state-level analysis.

The present study investigates the significant determinants of carbon emissions, namely, GDP, energy consumption, energy price, and energy expenditure, utilizing data of 50 American states from 2005 to 2016. Results obtained from application of OLS with fixed effects and panel quantile regression revealed that the effect of GDP on carbon emissions is negative but significant at all quantiles, energy consumption and energy price have a positive and significant effect on carbon emissions, while the effect of energy expenditure is negative but significant at the upper and lower quantiles, implying that high energy expenditures do not reduce carbon dioxide emission at the US state level. Policymakers should introduce further initiatives, so all the states would implement the climate legislations.

Heterogeneous impact of eco-innovation on premature deaths resulting from indoor and outdoor air pollution: empirical evidence from EU29 countries.

Environmental innovations play a vital role in reducing air pollution and the number of pollution-related mortality. Most of the previous studies have examined the role of eco-innovations in environmental quality. However, to our knowledge, no study has evaluated the effects of eco-innovation on air pollution as a cause of mortality.

The cost of healthier and more sustainable food choices: Do plant-based consumers spend more on food?

Plant-based diets are often promoted as healthier and more sustainable and thus as a mechanism to achieve the targets proposed to mitigate climate change and noncommunicable diseases. However, plant-based diets can be perceived as more expensive than the common omnivorous diets, when considering the expensive novel meat substitutes and also the higher costs of fruits and vegetables, whose consumption is perceived to increase. Therefore, the present study assesses the question: Do plant-based consumers spend more on food compared to omnivorous consumers? Based on primary data ( = 1040) collected through an online survey, representative of the Portuguese population, through logistic regressions, it was possible to conclude that plant-based consumers, particularly vegan, are associated with lower food expenditures compared to omnivorous consumers.

Does waiting times decrease or increase operational costs in short and long-term? Evidence from Portuguese public hospitals.

The Portuguese National Health System is composed of all public entities offering health services. There has been a successive increase in expenditure in recent years due to various factors that have contributed to a high degree of uncertainty about the evolution of operating costs in Public Business Hospitals. This research's main objective is to study the relationship between operational costs and waiting times as well as costs with healthcare professionals and waiting times in both external consultations and hospital surgeries.

Exploring the capacity of renewable energy consumption to reduce outdoor air pollution death rate in Latin America and the Caribbean region.

The impact of renewable energy consumption on reducing the outdoor air pollution death rate, in nineteen Latin America & the Caribbean countries, from 1990 to 2016, using the econometric technique of quantile regression for panel data, was researched. Results show that economic growth and fossil fuel consumption are positively related to CO emissions, while renewable energy consumption bears a negative relationship with it. Furthermore, fossil fuel consumption has a positive impact on the mortality rate and economic growth a negative one.

The driving forces of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from South Latin American countries and their impacts on these countries' process of decoupling.

An extensive decomposition analysis was used to research the primary driving forces behind energy-related carbon dioxide emissions per capita for the period 1993 to 2017 in a panel of South American countries. Evidence was found that the effect of per capita renewable productivity was challenging and compromised in South Latin American countries. Decoupling changed from a weak state to a strong decoupling state after the Kyoto protocol.

Accommodating renewable energy sources in a small electricity market: An analysis considering the interactions of sources within Portugal and Spain.

The Portuguese and the Spanish electricity generation systems are analysed in this paper. The Iberian market has been isolated and has an increasing proportion of renewable sources. The main objective of this study is to understand how electricity generation sources are interacting with electricity wholesale prices.

Does financial openness increase environmental degradation? Fresh evidence from MERCOSUR countries.

This article researches the impact of financial openness on environmental degradation in the MERCOSUR countries over the time spanning from 1980 to 2014. The Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PARDL), in the form of Unrestricted Error Correction Model (UECM), was computed with the purpose of decomposing the total effects of variables in their short- and long-run ones. The results of short-run impacts and elasticities of PARDL model showed that the financial openness increases the CO emissions both in the short- and in the long-run.

The impact of economic growth on CO emissions in Australia: the environmental Kuznets curve and the decoupling index.

Australia is the sixth largest country in the world, celebrating its 26th consecutive year without a recession. However, the country is one of the ten largest emitters of greenhouse gases, mainly caused by energy use. As such, Australia is facing a trade-off between economic growth and reducing carbon dioxide (CO) emissions.

Renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sectors of European Union member states: a panel data analysis.

In the last two decades, there has been a rich debate about the environmental degradation that results from exposure to solid urban waste. Growing public concern with environmental issues has led to the implementation of various strategic plans for waste management in several developed countries, especially in the European Union. In this paper, the relationships were assessed between economic growth, renewable energy extraction and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the waste sector.

Are renewable energy policies upsetting carbon dioxide emissions? The case of Latin America countries.

The impact of renewable energy policies in carbon dioxide emissions was analysed for a panel of ten Latin American countries, for the period from 1991 to 2012. Panel autoregressive distributed lag methodology was used to decompose the total effect of renewable energy policies on carbon dioxide emissions in its short- and long-run components. There is evidence for the presence of cross-sectional dependence, confirming that Latin American countries share spatial patterns.