The Hidden Toll of Psychological Distress in Australian Adults and Its Impact on Health-Related Quality of Life Measured as Health State Utilities.

Background: Psychological distress (PD) is a major health problem that affects all aspects of health-related quality of life including physical, mental and social health, leading to a substantial human and economic burden. Studies have revealed a concerning rise in the prevalence of PD and various mental health conditions among Australians, particularly in female individuals. There is a scarcity of studies that estimate health state utilities (HSUs), which reflect the overall health-related quality of life in individuals with PD.

An environmental perspective of energy consumption, overpopulation, and human capital barriers in South Asia.

Prior literature is substantive in highlighting the nexus between pollutant and socio-economic predictors; however, the role of human interaction has not been sufficiently explored. Thus, the present study examines the validity of the environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in the presence of energy consumption, overpopulation, and human capital index in five South Asian countries. It employs fixed effects, random effects, and dynamic panel causality techniques with a set of panel data from 1972 to 2021.

The dynamic impact of renewable energy consumption, trade, and financial development on carbon emissions in low-, middle-, and high-income countries.

The present study confronts potential theoretical argument of dynamic and non-linear relationship between [Formula: see text] emissions, renewable energy consumption, trade, and financial development by using quantile regression that accounts for the role of development in explaining the stated nexus. The results show that renewable energy consumption reduces [Formula: see text] emissions in the short run in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. [Formula: see text] emissions plumet as country open up for trade and expand financial services for their people.

A gender-specific assessment of tobacco use risk factors: evidence from the latest Pakistan demographic and health survey.

Background: The high prevalence of tobacco use in Pakistan poses a substantial health and economic burden to Pakistani individuals, families, and society. However, a comprehensive assessment of the key risk factors of tobacco use in Pakistan is very limited in the literature. A better understanding of the key risk factors of tobacco use is needed to identify and implement effective tobacco control measures.

Do geopolitical risk and energy consumption contribute to environmental degradation? Evidence from E7 countries.

Environmental degradation is frequently cited as one of the eminent issues in the modern era. To limit environmental degradation, prior literature discerns several macroeconomic, socio-economic, and institutional factors that affect environmental degradation. However, the relationship between geopolitical risk and environmental degradation is understudied in the previous literature.

Searching appropriate system boundary for accounting India's emission inventory for the responsibility to reduce carbon emissions.

This paper explores the features of accounting for the national carbon emission inventory under four different system boundaries, including the presently operational territorial production-based accounting (PBA) practised by the UNFCCC. Using a recently published input-output table with the base year for 2013-2014, the study calculates India's 'Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)' to the mitigation of carbon emissions using production-based, consumption-based, sharing-based and equity-based accounting. The study finds India as a net importer of carbon emissions, especially for its high emission-intensive capital and energy goods import such that the country is bearing the minimum burden of emission reduction responsibility.

Testing dependence patterns of energy consumption with economic expansion and trade openness through wavelet transformed coherence in top energy-consuming countries.

Economic growth and trade openness are closely linked with energy consumption and hence have environmental consequences. Many studies have investigated the relationship between these variables. Two weaknesses in empirical literature on energy-growth nexus are prominent.

Investigating India's pollution-intensive 'dirty' trade specialisation: analysis with 'revealed symmetric comparative advantage' index.

This study intends to explore India's comparative advantage in the pollution-intensive product export with temporal and spatial analysis by applying an alternative measure of revealed comparative advantage index. The emission-intensive manufacturing commodities are mainly chosen as per the list published by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India to draw some inferences on India's pollution haven characteristics. For the spatial analysis, the 'dirty' comparative advantage is calculated for all the BRICS countries for the year 2017, and for the temporal analysis, the index value is calculated for 42 product groups at 3 digit SITC level from 2009 to 2017 to examine the structure of 'dirty' specialisation in India and its change over time.

Does the environmental Kuznets curve reliably explain a developmental issue?

This study aims to achieve two main objectives; first, it provides a brief but critical description of the empirical literature on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in terms of history, origin, micro-foundations, measurement of environmental degradation, methodologies and samples. Second, it examines the curious attraction of the EKC despite considerable criticism it has attracted over time. The motivation stems from the mixed results probably due to different econometric techniques, sample periods, country-specific factors and environmental indicators used to test EKC.

Impact of agricultural land use and economic growth on nitrous oxide emissions: Evidence from developed and developing countries.

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) establishes a hypothetical link between economic growth and environmental degradation and has been tested empirically using various measures of pollution, including carbon dioxide (CO), methane (CH), and nitrous oxide (NO) emissions. However, few studies have focused on NO emissions, despite their projected lifetime of 114 years and 300 times greater warming potential than CO. Employing panel data for the period 1980 to 2012, this study uses the EKC to investigate NO emissions, including those resulting from agriculture, economic growth, agricultural land use, and exports.

Socio-economic, macroeconomic, demographic, and environmental variables as determinants of child mortality in South Asia.

The study empirically examines the effects of socio-economic (human capital), macroeconomic (per capita GDP), demographic (fertility rate, urbanization), and environmental variables (carbon emissions) on child mortality in South Asia. For empirical analysis, panel cointegration technique is used by using data for five South Asian countries for the period 1973 to 2015. First, it is found that the variables have unit roots at levels but are stationary at first differences, which indicates the possibility of cointegration.

Is health care a luxury or necessity good? Evidence from Asian countries.

This study investigates long run relationship between health care expenditure and real income in fifteen selected Asian countries over the period 1995-2014 using the panel cointegration tests and controlling for cross-sectional dependence through unobserved common correlated factors (UCFs). The results show that health care expenditure and income are cointegrated. It is found that the income elasticity scales down when UCFs are controlled, which implies that ignoring UCFs produces biased and inconsistent estimates.

Decision-making for birth location among women in Pakistan: evidence from national survey.

Background: Pakistan ranks 149th in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and has failed to keep pace with other countries in the region, except Afghanistan, with respect to health indicators. Home deliveries are linked to a higher risk of maternal death; therefore, discouraging home deliveries is imperative to improve maternal health. This study provides a holistic view and analyses factors affecting home birth decisions within the context of maternal socio-demographic characteristics in Pakistan.

Correlates of preferences for home or hospital confinement in Pakistan: evidence from a national survey.

Background: Despite the pregnancy complications related to home births, homes remain yet major place of delivery in Pakistan and 65 percent of totals births take place at home. This work analyses the determinants of place of delivery in Pakistan.

Methods: Multivariate Logistic regression is used for analysis.