Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of financial development, economic growth and energy consumption on environment degradation for Indian economy by using the time series data for the period 1971-2011. Design/methodology/approach – The stationary properties of the variables are checked by ADF, DF-GLS, PP and Ng-Perron unit root tests. The long-run relationship is examined by implementing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag bounds testing approach to co-integration and error correction method (ECM) is applied to examine the short-run dynamics. The direction of the causality is checked by VECM framework and variance decomposition is used to predict exogenous shocks of the variables. Findings – The empirical evidence confirms the existence of long-run relationship among the variables. Financial development appears to increase environmental degradation in India. The main contributors to environmental degradation are: economic growth, energy consumption financial development and ur...

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of trade openness on CO2 emissions using time series data over the period of 1970QI-2011QIV for Malaysia. We disintegrate the trade effect into scale, technique, composition, and comparative advantage effects to check the environmental consequence of trade at four different transition points. To achieve the purpose, we have employed augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP) unit root tests in order to examine the stationary properties of the variables. Later, the long-run association among the variables is examined by applying autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration. Our results confirm the presence of cointegration. Further, we find that scale effect has positive and technique effect has negative impact on CO2 emissions after threshold income level and form inverted U-shaped relationship-hence validates the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. Energy consumption adds in CO2 emissions. Trade openness and composite effect improve environmental quality by lowering CO2 emissions. The comparative advantage effect increases CO2 emissions and impairs environmental quality. The results provide the innovative approach to see the impact of trade openness in four sub-dimensions of trade liberalization. Hence, this study attributes more comprehensive policy tool for trade economists to better design environmentally sustainable trade rules and agreements.

Abstract: This paper clarifies some conceptual shortcomings of the empirical environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) literature that arise because of the hitherto inadequate application of unit root and cointegration techniques. The literature to date has ignored the fact, and a fortiori the consequences, that powers of integrated processes are themselves not integrated processes. The paper explains why standard methods should not be applied and discusses some recently proposed viable estimation and testing approaches for cointegrating polynomial regressions. The application to CO2 and SO2 emissions data shows that using appropriate methods leads to strongly reduced evidence for a cointegrating EKC compared to typical but conceptually not sound findings.

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between oil price movements and macroeconomic aggregates, such as gross domestic product (GDP), consumer prices (CPI), and unemployment, for OECD countries. To do this, second generation econometric methods have been employed to panel data including panel unit root tests, panel cointegration tests, and panel long-run models. Panel unit root tests suggest that oil prices plus selected macroeconomic aggregates in OECD countries are non-stationary at levels but become stationary at first differences in the existence of multiple structural breaks. Five structural break points have successfully been investigated in the series of this study during panel unit root and panel cointegration tests. Durbin–H panel co-integration tests confirm that there is a long-term relationship between oil prices and those macroeconomic aggregates. On the other hand, results of this study reveal that the price of oil exerts statistically and negatively significant impacts on GDP, CPI, and unemployment in the case of OECD countries in general.

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial development and economic growth in India using annual data from 1982 to 2012. Design/methodology/approach – The stationarity properties are checked by ADF, DF-GLS, KPSS and Ng–Perron unit root tests. The long- and short-run dynamics are examined by using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to co-integration. Findings – The co-integration test confirms a long-run relationship in financial development and economic growth for India. The analysis of ARDL test results reveals that both bank-based and market-based indicators of financial development have a positive impact on economic growth in India. Hence, the results support the supply-leading hypothesis and highlight the importance of financial development in economic growth. The findings also indicate that the Indian bank-centric financial sector has the potential for economic growth through credit transmission. Research limitations/implications – The present...

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the impact of the Islamic Bank Financing on Malaysia’s economic growth over the period 2000Q1-2011Q4. Design/methodology/approach – A neoclassical production function augmented by some indicators of Islamic bank finance has been the theoretical framework for this paper’s empirical investigation. The unit root tests show that all the variables are integrated of order 1. The test of Johansen and Juselius (1990) has shown the existence of a single cointegrating relationship between the gross domestic product (GDP), the investment, the labor force and the indicator of Islamic bank finance. Hence, an error correction model has been constructed to estimate the economic growth elasticity with respect to the different Islamic bank finance indicators. Findings – The estimated elasticities show that, in the long run, the GDP in Malaysia is not sensitive to the Islamic financing. The estimation of an error correction model shows that the elasticity of...

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Inference on unit roots: basic methods 3. Unit root tests under various model specifications 4. Alternative approaches to inference on unit roots 5. Other issues related to unit roots 6. Seasonal unit roots 7. Panel unit roots.

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission in the causal framework, as the direction of causality remains has a significant policy implication for developed and developing countries. The study employed maximum entropy bootstrap (Meboot) approach to examine the causal nexus between energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission using bivariate as well as multivariate framework for Malaysia, over a period of 1975-2013. This is a unified approach without requiring the use of conventional techniques based on asymptotical theory such as testing for possible unit root and cointegration. In addition, it can be applied in the presence of non-stationary of any type including structural breaks without any type of data transformation to achieve stationary. Thus, it provides more reliable and robust inferences which are insensitive to time span as well as lag length used. The empirical results show that there is a unidirectional causality running from energy consumption to carbon emission both in the bivariate model and multivariate framework, while controlling for broad money supply and population density. The results indicate that Malaysia is an energy-dependent country and hence energy is stimulus to carbon emissions.

Abstract: Agriculture is both the main sector that is expected to provide employment to large segments of the population and the key to sustained economic growth of the countries. This study presented an empirical analysis of the effect of Agricultural Exports on economic growth of Nigeria. The model built for the study proxy gross domestic product as the endogenous variable measuring economic growth as a function of real exchange rate, real Agricultural exports, Index of Trade Openness and Inflation rate as the exogenous variables. Annual time series data was gathered from Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical bulletin, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), CBN Economic and Financial Review Bulletin and CBN annual reports spanning from 1970 to 2012. The study used econometric techniques of Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root test, Johansen co-integration test and error correction method (ECM) for empirical analysis. The results of unit root suggested that index of trade openness and inflation rate was stationary at a level while real gross domestic product, real exchange rate and real agricultural exports were integrated at order one. The co-integration test showed that, long-run equilibrium relationship exist among the variables. The findings from the error correction method show that Agricultural Export has contributed positively to the Nigerian economy. The study recommended that, the government reform agenda should be systematic and sustained irrespective of the professional background of the successive presidents of the country and that; Agricultural production should be more desired than other sectors that are exhaustive in nature (oil) evidenced to the recent fall in price of crude oil which has rendered Nigeria in economic shambles. Key words: Agricultural exports, economic growth, trade openness, Dutch disease and exchange rate.

Abstract: This paper revisits the dynamics of unemployment rate for 29 OECD countries over the period of 1980-2013. Numerous empirical studies of the dynamics of unemployment rate are carried out within a linear framework. However, unemployment rate can show nonlinear behaviour as a result of business cycles or some idiosyncratic factors specific to labour market (Cancelo, 2007). Thus, as a testing strategy we first perform Harvey et al. (2008) linearity unit root test and then apply the newly ESTAR nonlinear unit root test suggested by Kruse (2011). This test has higher power than conventional unit root tests when time series exhibits nonlinear behaviour. Our empirical findings provide significant evidence in favour of unemployment rate stationarity for 25 countries. For robustness purpose, we have also used panel unit root tests without and with structural breaks. The results show that unemployment hysteresis hypothesis is strongly rejected when taking into account the cross-sectional and structural break assumptions. Thus, unemployment rates are expected to return back to their natural levels without executing any costly macroeconomic labour market policies by the OECD's governments.

Abstract: Many economic theories depend on the presence or absence of a unit root for their validity, and econometric and statistical theory undergo considerable changes when unit roots are present. Thus, knowledge on unit roots has become so important, necessitating an extensive, compact, and nontechnical book on this subject. This book is rested on this motivation and introduces the literature on unit roots in a comprehensive manner to both empirical and theoretical researchers in economics and other areas. By providing a clear, complete, and critical discussion of unit root literature, In Choi covers a wide range of topics, including uniform confidence interval construction, unit root tests allowing structural breaks, mildly explosive processes, exuberance testing, fractionally integrated processes, seasonal unit roots and panel unit root testing. Extensive, up to date, and readily accessible, this book is a comprehensive reference source on unit roots for both students and applied workers.

Abstract: This study examines the contribution of agriculture, industry and services sectors to economic growth in Bangladesh by using time series data from 1980 to 2013 Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP) unit root tests show that the time series data stationary at first difference Then, the cointegration analysis indicates that each economic sector has strong, positive and significant linear relationship with economic growth Granger causality test found bi-directional causality between agriculture and GDP and also industry and agriculture This empirical study also found the unidirectional granger causality from services sector to agriculture and industry sector to services sector Finally, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) also used to examine the short and long run equilibrium relationships among the variables This study gives the guideline to the investors and policy makers Keywords : economic growth, economic sectors, econometric analysis, Bangladesh

Abstract: We examine both the degree and the structural stability of inflation persistence at different quantiles of the conditional inflation distribution. Previous research focused exclusively on persistence at the conditional mean of the inflation rate. As economic theory provides reasons for inflation persistence to differ across conditional quantiles, this is a potentially severe constraint. Conventional studies of inflation persistence cannot identify changes in persistence at selected quantiles that leave persistence at the mean of the distribution unchanged. Based on post-war US data we indeed find robust evidence for a structural break in persistence at all quantiles of the inflation process in the early 1980s. While prior to the 1980s inflation was not mean reverting, quantile autoregression based unit root tests suggest that since the end of the Volcker disinflation the unit root can be rejected at every quantile of the conditional inflation distribution.

Abstract: Stocks are generally considered to be a good hedge against inflation because of their tendency to move together. This paper examines long term relationship between inflation and stock returns in BRICS markets using panel data for the period from March 2000 to September 2013. Correlation results reveal a significant negative relationship between stock index and inflation rate for Russia and a significantly positive relationship for India & China. ADF, PP and KPSS unit root tests indicate non-stationary characteristic of the data. Further we find no long term co-integrating relationship between stock index values and inflation rates using Pedroni panel co integration test. These findings have important implications for policy makers, regulators and investment community at large. There may seem to be short term contemporaneous relationship between inflation and equity returns but in the long run they do not seem to be significantly integrated. Changes in inflation may bring some short run movement in stock return but certainly equity does not seem to be a good hedge against inflation in long run at least in emerging BRICS markets. Keywords: BRICS, Stock Index, Inflation, Unit root test, Pedroni Panel Co integration Test, Johansen Co integration Test.

Abstract: This paper analyses the relationship among economic growth, energy use and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Israel over the period 1971-2006. Results of unit root tests show that all variables are integrated of order one. Causality results suggest that real gross domestic product (GDP) drives both energy use and CO2 emissions. Forecast error variance decompositions (FEVDs) evidence that the errors in real per capita GDP are mainly due to uncertainty in GDP itself, while the errors in predicting the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions are sensitive to disturbances in the other two equations. The FEVDs show that forecast errors in real per capita GDP are mainly due to uncertainty in GDP itself, the errors in predicting the energy use are sensitive to disturbances both in the GDP and in CO2 equations, while the forecast errors in CO2 emissions should be essentially connected to emissions itself. Finally, the vector autoregression (VAR) forecast represents an improvement in simpler forecasts in more than half the comparisons.

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Indian states using annual data from 1993 to 2012. Design/methodology/approach – The stationarity properties are checked by Levin-Lin-Chu and Im-Pesaran-Shin panel unit root tests. The study employed the Pedroni’s panel co-integration test to examine the existence of long-run relationship and the coefficients of co-integration are examined by fully modified ordinary least squares. The short term and long-run causality is checked by panel granger causality. Findings – The co-integration test confirms a long-run relationship between financial development and economic growth for Indian states. The results support the supply leading hypothesis and highlight the importance of financial development in economic growth in Indian states. The findings also indicate that bank-centric financial sector of India has the potential of economic growth through credit transmission. Research limitations/imp...

Abstract: This study examines the stochastic conditional convergence of per capita health care expenditures (PCHCE) among 19 OECD countries over the period 1972–2008. Specifically, newly developed LM and RALS-LM unit root tests with allowance for two endogenously determined structural breaks are employed. The results indicate support for PCHCE convergence among most OECD countries. The results are stronger in more general tests that control for two breaks and nonnormal errors. Panel unit root tests provide additional support for the stochastic convergence of PCHCE.

Abstract: Many economic theories depend on the presence or absence of a unit root for their validity, and econometric and statistical theory undergo considerable changes when unit roots are present. Thus, knowledge on unit roots has become so important, necessitating an extensive, compact, and nontechnical book on this subject. This book is rested on this motivation and introduces the literature on unit roots in a comprehensive manner to both empirical and theoretical researchers in economics and other areas. By providing a clear, complete, and critical discussion of unit root literature, In Choi covers a wide range of topics, including uniform confidence interval construction, unit root tests allowing structural breaks, mildly explosive processes, exuberance testing, fractionally integrated processes, seasonal unit roots and panel unit root testing. Extensive, up to date, and readily accessible, this book is a comprehensive reference source on unit roots for both students and applied workers.

Abstract: In this article, the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth is examined from the viewpoint of China’s industrial sectors. Panel data from 37 industrial sectors in China covering the period from 1998 to 2010 was used in this study. Not only first generation panel unit root tests and panel cointegration tests, but also second generation tests that account for dependence between cross-sectional units were employed. The empirical results reveal that both energy consumption and economic growth are integrated as order one, and they are cointegrated. Panel fully modified ordinary least squares estimators show that a 1% increase in energy consumption increases the real value added of industrial sectors by 0.871%, and a 1% increase in real value added of industrial sectors increases energy consumption by 1.103%. The panel vector error correction models for causality tests are estimated by a system generalized moment method. We find a unidirectional causal relation running from economic growth to energy consumption in the shortrun. In the long run, however, there is evidence of a unidirectional causality running from energy consumption to economic growth.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of macroeconomic factors such as GDP, CPI, TRGDP and ERon exports between Malaysia and other OIC countries using a panel data for the period of 1997-2012. The panelunit root tests have been applied to confirm the stationarity and level of integration. The overall unit root tests(Dickey & Fuller, 1979; Im, Pesaran, & Shin, 2003; Levin, Lin, & James Chu, 2002) result shows that all thevariables are stationary at level and become non-stationary after taking first difference. The Kao cointegrationtest results approved the cointegration among the panel of proposed countries. After confirm the stationaritylevel and cointegration FMOLS test is employed to analyze whether a long run relationship between variablesexist. The results obtained show that only GDP, TRGDP and ER have significant effect on exports. In examiningthe short-run relationships among variables, a panel ECM is the applied and it is observed that only ER andTRGDP have positive effect on exports. Results from this study can be used as guidance for policy makers onexports where government can give more attention on both ER and TRGDP to influence exports in the short run.