While many studies examine ecological footprint drivers, the impact of economic and political uncertainty is underexplored. This study addresses this gap by analysing the effects of the World Uncertainty Index (WUI) and renewable energy consumption on ecological footprints across 126 countries from 2001 to 2021, using a dynamic spatial Durbin model. Results show that WUI significantly reduces ecological footprints in both the short and long run. Spatial spillovers reveal that uncertainty’s effects extend beyond national borders, amplifying regional environmental impacts. Comparative analysis indicates that the negative effects of uncertainty outweigh the benefits of renewable energy consumption. These findings highlight the critical importance of socioeconomic and political stability, suggesting that effective environmental governance requires both domestic policy coherence and global coordination to mitigate uncertainty-driven spillovers and promote long-term ecological resilience.

This paper aims to investigate how economic complexity and structural transformation affect energy security. This study differs from previous research by focusing on energy efficiency and renewable energy transition as indicators of energy security. The employed methods include econometric techniques such as Panel-Corrected Standard Errors, Driscoll and Kraay's Spatial Correlation Consistent (SCC) method, and Generalized Least Squares, covering data from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries between 1990 and 2017. The results show that economic complexity has a negative effect on energy efficiency but a positive impact on renewable energy. However, economic growth positively affects energy efficiency but negatively influences renewable energy. These results imply that economic complexity is energy-intensive but green, whereas economic growth is energy-saving but brown. The comparative analysis reveals that the negative effects of economic complexity and growth are larger than their positive effects, highlighting the necessity of restructuring economic activities and sectors. Accordingly, decision-makers should encourage the utilization of more energy-efficient technologies in economic activities and production, while promoting renewable energy consumption to enhance energy security in the MENA region.

This article defines green development, green economy, green growth, green business, green trade, green finance, and green government. Among these terms, green development covers green economy which in turn includes green growth. While they similarly integrate developmental activities into environmental consideration, they differ in their coverage level. Green development targets the infrastructural aspects, the green economy involves the economic sectors, and green growth focuses on the economic subsectors and microeconomic scope. They include other elements like green business, green trade, green finance, and green government, contributing altogether to the sustainability degree of society.

For reducing fossil fuel demand and its environmental damages in Iran, the UN suggests removal of fossil fuel subsidies in this developing country which has the largest amount of energy subsidies in the world within 2010s. This research investigates the effectiveness of subsidy removal as a price policy in reducing the consumption of diesel which has the highest share in the total fossil fuel demand portfolio. The novelty of this research is that it compares the effects of price policy and energy efficiency on reducing diesel demand and improving sustainability to reveal which one is a more effective policy. To this aim, our study employs dynamic model, static model and error-correction model for estimating the diesel demand elasticities during 1976–2017. The results show that the diesel demand responds to changes in energy efficiency substantially, while it responds to changes in price slightly. Based on our findings, energy efficiency is about 30 times more effective than the price policy on reduction of diesel demand and improvement of the sustainable development pillars including economy, environment and social (health). A 10% improvement in energy efficiency at the first year of the studied period could reduce more than 87 billion liters of diesel consumption, 3 billion tons of CO2 emissions and 65 thousand deaths from the air pollution during the period. Therefore, the strategists should improve the technology especially the efficiency of energy-consuming utilities like cars, rather than increasing the price and removal of subsidy, to reduce diesel demand and improve sustainability.

The global trade is a major sector promoting the welfare all over the world. Yet, governmental administrative and regulatory processes challenge this procedure, especially the customs administrations which increase the time and cost of trade. Nonetheless, relaxing the trade regulations can result in illicit trade threatening the economy, society and environment. Accordingly, this study introduces the Framework for the Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade (SAFE) organized by the World Customs Organization (WCO), as a platform for simultaneously considering trade facilitation and trade security. Then, it introduces the objectives, elements, pillars, and standards of the SAFE framework.

Sustainable development and sustainability are essential concepts for a healthy planet, thriving economies, and equitable societies across the globe. This paper aims to define the concepts of sustainable development and sustainability, as well as their pillars and perspectives. To this end, the paper defines the social, environmental, and economic pillars of sustainability, as well as their spillover effects. Then, the three main perspectives of sustainability are described, including weak, strong, and integrated sustainability. In this way, these definitions provide a reference for studies on the sustainability and sustainable development for using these concepts with a reliable and unique definition.

This paper analyzes within a spatial endogenous growth setting the impact of public policy coordination on agglomeration. Governments in each of the two symmetric regions provide a local public input that becomes globally effective due to integration. Micro-foundation of governmental behavior is based on three different coordination schemes: autarky, full or partial coordination. Scale effects act as agglomeration force and in addition to private capital agglomeration increase the concentration of the public input. Integration promotes dispersion forces with respect to the distribution of physical capital which are based on decreasing private returns. However, within the governments' decision on the concentration of the public input, increasing integration reinforces agglomeration because it promotes the interregional productive use of the public input. Taking feedback effects between the private and the public sector into account leads to mutual reinforcement, hence agglomeration forces almost always dominate and the spreading equilibrium becomes unstable. If convergence is a separate (additional) political objective, it needs sustained additional political effort.

This study aims to compare the effects of price policy with energy efficiency improvement on energy consumption and sustainable development. To this end, our research estimates the demand elasticities of diesel, gasoline, fuel oil, LPG, and kerosene using Dynamic Log-Linear and AutoRegression Distributed Lag in Iran during 1976–2017. In 2018, Iran had the first rank in the world for the amount of subsidy on various kinds of fossil fuels. Based on the results, technology is up to 100 times more effective than price policy. Technology, by only 10

The paper considers stochastic environmental policy and its effects on the environment, portfolio composition, and economic growth. Capital accumulation causes pollution which is reduced by private green services and public abatement. The government subsidizes green services and taxes dirty capital albeit at a rate which may become random, causing unexpected capital write-offs. Tax jumps depend on natural degradation and environmental activism. We derive how uncertainty and political activism affect the risk premia for investors. We analyze the incentives for firms to increase the greenness of production in order to reduce political uncertainty. Stochastic taxation is shown to act as a substitute for green subsidies when uncertainty decreases in the ratio of green services to capital and agents use their green activities strategically. Tax uncertainty may trigger precautionary savings, causing additional growth and enhanced environmental deterioration.

We analyze within a spatial endogenous growth setting the impact of public policy coordination on regional inequality. Governments in each of the two symmetric regions provide a local public input that becomes globally effective due to integration. Micro-foundation of governmental behavior is based on three different coordination schemes: autarky, full or partial coordination. The size of the local public inputs - as measured by the expenditure share ratios - differs depending upon the extent to which the governments take interregional interdependencies and feedback effects into account. The resulting spatial distribution of economic activity is driven by integration, which acts as dispersion force, and scale effects, which act as concentration force. The latter are drivers of regional inequality. Given full symmetry, local externalities cancel w.r.t to their impact on spatial concentration. We show that coordination of public decisions that base on productivity considerations unequivocally foster concentration and destabilize the spreading equilibrium. Regional inequality is thus an optimal result or put differently, the convergence goal can only be met by applying additional arguments.

Human capital and technological change are key factors for the realisation of a sustainable growth path, particularly if production causes environmental pollution. We analyse an endogenous growth model with pollution and abatement. Human capital is used in the production sector as well as in pollution control. In the steady state, economic growth and the level of pollution are constant. The impact of technological change on the pollution level is shown to depend on the development stage of the economy. Less developed economies with a lower productivity level in the education sector benefit more from productivity improvements in the education sector which reduce the pollution level as a by-product. In contrast, more developed economies with a higher productivity level in the education sector experience stronger environmental improvements from technological change in the abatement sector. Higher quality in abatement activity allows for a decrease of abatement expenditures associated with a decreased pollution level. JEL–Classification: O1, O4, Q2, Q5

We analyze the interdependence between green attitude and equilibrium development of environmental quality in an endogenous growth model. Individuals take only part of their impact on pollution into account, hence there is a negative externality of capital accumulation on environmental quality. Increasing wealth or increasing pollution enhance green attitude and reduce the externality, because individuals care more about the environment if their income is higher or if pollution is more obvious. The time path of pollution as well as the evolution of equilibrium growth are shown to depend crucially on the determinants of green attitude. Ongoing growth may lead to complete internalization of the environmental externality if green attitude improves with increasing wealth, e.g. as a consequence of an increase in environmental education. In contrast, if green attitude is determined exclusively by the level of environmental quality, pollution remains at a suboptimally high level. The interdependence of wealth and pollution in the determination of environmental awareness implies more complex dynamics. Capital growth enhances green attitude and thereby decreases pollution. Improved environmental quality in turn may increase capital growth due to less green attitude and therefore slow down convergence to the sustainable balanced growth path.

In this paper, a threshold error correction approach is used to analyze whether in various interest rate regimes, the effectivity of financial development indicators on economic growth rate is different or not. Over the period 1973 – 2007, we show that in high interest rate regime, stock index’s growth rate and growth rate of banking facilities indicator (as financial development indicators), have positive effect on Iran economic growth.Nevertheless, in low interest rate regime, financial development reduces Iran economic growth. Basically this negative impact can be attributed to negative real interest rate due to high inflation. Furthermore we question whether financial index growth will equally affect economic growth before and after crossing a threshold level. Our results suggest that when threshold variable is considered as banking facilities index, there is no linear relationship between the mentioned index growth and economic growth. However, when the stock index is considered as a threshold variable, passing the threshold level will promote economic growth.

This paper analyzes within a two-region endogenous growth model how different types of public policies affect the equilibrium spatial distribution of economic activity. Integration is modeled as a continuum and enables firms to access the public input of the respective other region. Given a dominance of agglomeration forces, multiple equilibria arise at which spreading becomes unstable and the stable equilibrium is characterized by a core-periphery structure. If only partial coordination of the two goverments decisions is realized, the positive productivity impact of one region s public input on the other region s marginal capital return becomes a positive externality. Then, the concentration of public inputs may end up to be suboptimally high or low, depending on the degree of scale effects. We perform numerical simulations to derive the equilibrium capital distribution and to disentangle the impact of the various determinants on equilibrium agglomeration.

This paper employs a dynamic framework to compare the effects of alternative government policies on convergence of industrialized economies to the technology frontier. The government's instruments include facilitating private investment and education policy. The latter enhances skills of heterogenous specialists and implies the decision on their respective shares. The analysis distinguishes between an isolated policy of a single economy and coordinated policies of various countries. Which policy maximizes the speed of convergence is crucially affected by the economy's state of development. A policy switch between the mentioned instruments while catching-up may be preferable.

This paper analyzes, within a regional growth model, the impact of a productive governmental input and integration on the spatial distribution of economic activity. In doing so, two benchmark cases (i) equal distribution, and (ii) agglomeration in the sense of a core–periphery structure as well as the corresponding transition processes are discussed. Integration is understood as enhancing inter-territorial cooperation and it describes the extent to which one region may benefit from the other region's public input. Both integration and the characteristics of the public input crucially affect whether or not agglomeration arises and hence to which extent economic activity is concentrated. Key results are: Intensifying integration reduces the strengths of agglomeration forces and the corresponding degree of concentration will be lower. Relative congestion leads to an overestimation of capital returns and capital growth in the core region is faster due to congestion thereby leading to suboptimally high concentration.

This paper employs a dynamic framework to compare the effects of alternative government activities on convergence of industrialized economies to the technology frontier. The government's Instruments include facilitating private investment and education policy. The latter enhances skills of heterogenous specialists and imply the decision on their respective shares. The analysis distinguishes between an isolated policy of a single economy and coordinated policies of various countries. Which policy maximizes the speed of convergence is crucially affected by the economy's state of development. A policy switch between the mentioned instruments while catching-up may be preferable.