Obesity is a worldwide concern as it leads to adverse effects on human health. This study uses a panel of 165 countries and annual data from 2000 to 2014 to examine the obesity Kuznets curve (OKC) hypothesis. By using tests and estimators that are robust to cross-section dependence (CSD), our results support the OKC hypothesis. This indicates that obesity increases at the initial stage of economic development and eventually would decrease once the threshold is reached. In addition, we find that the role of global warming on obesity is not significant. Food production is found to be a contributing factor to obesity. Besides, one-way and two-way causalities are identified between the variables. This study provides important insights particularly about the relationship between (i) economic growth and obesity and (ii) environmental degradation and obesity. Implication of the results and policy recommendations are also provided to policymakers and health personnel in finding solutions to the obesity epidemic around the world.
Validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is consistently and widely debated among economists and environmentalists alike throughout time. In Malaysia, transport is one of the "dirtiest" sectors; it intensively consumes energy in powering engines by using fossil fuels and poses significant threats to environmental quality. Therefore, this study attempted an examination into the impact of corruption on transport carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. By adopting the fully modified ordinary least squares, canonical cointegrating regression, and dynamic ordinary least squares in performing long-run estimations, the results obtained based on the annual data spanning from 1990 to 2017 yielded various notable findings. First, more corruption would be attributable towards increased transport CO2 emissions. Second, a monotonic increment of transport CO2 emission was seen with higher economic growth and thus invalidated the presence of EKC. Overall, this study suggests that Malaysia has yet to reach the level of economic growth synonymous with transport CO2 emission reduction due to the lack of high technology usage in the current system implemented. Therefore, this study could position policy recommendations of use to the Malaysian authorities in designing the appropriate economic and environmental policies, particularly for the transport sector.
OECD countries have encountered the challenges of improving the environmental sustainability while maintaining economic growth by not impairing employment. This study attempts to reexamine the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by using ecological footprint as an indicator of environmental degradation. Besides, our study aims to test the validity of environmental Phillips curve (EPC) and role of clean energy on ecological footprint. Our data cover a panel of 36 OECD countries from 1995 to 2015. We adopt the second-generation panel unit root and cointegration test to account for the presence of cross-section dependence (CSD). Moreover, the long-run relationship is estimated using Common Correlated Effect Mean Group (CCEMG) and Augmented Mean Group (AMG) that are robust to CSD. Our findings reveal that the EKC hypothesis is not valid while EPC is confirmed in OECD countries. Though there is a trade-off between unemployment and environmental degradation in OECD countries, the development of new technologies, especially in the clean energy sector, could be a key factor contributing to sustainable growth and better environmental quality. Thus, it is recommended that OECD countries should focus on the development of innovative green technologies and strengthen the initiatives that promote renewable energy consumption.