Global energy security is a growing worldwide concern in the presence of high economic policy uncertainty (EPU) that can be addressed by advancing sustainable energy diversification (ED) practices. Energy security can be estimated by combining ED and EPU indices; hence, this study uses a dataset...

Tobacco taxation is the most effective measure to reduce cigarette consumption, and consequently improve public health outcomes. It is also an important source of government revenue. The presence of an illicit tobacco market diminishes the public health and fiscal gains of cigarette levies by...

Spanning over a century, the strong bilateral relations between the Philippines and the United States supported the country’s development through foreign direct investments, trade, and tourism. Among the tangible gains from this century-long relationship are the following:● Increased...

We study the impact of the sub-soil natural resource endowment and the supply of biocapacity on the extractive and non-extractive FDI inflows. We focus on a new panel data set of 126 countries for the period 1984-2019. Our identification strategy is based on the long lags between natural...

The present paper analyzes the cyclicality of public spending on key social, economic and military sectors, including agriculture, education, health, social protection, transportation and military spending using data available for up to 40 developing countries spanning the period from 1980 to...

Nutrition is a key input in the health production function, and a better understanding of how we eat can aid in guiding effective policy change towards better population health. This study documents prevalence rates, trends in, and potential correlates of nutrient intake for panels of countries,...

Bulgaria signed the Europe Association Agreement (EAA) in 1995 and the European Union accession treaty in 2005. Accession had the effect of increasing FDI in Bulgaria. We analyze World Bank BEEPS firm level data for 2007 to better understand characteristics and performance of foreign firms in...

We examine the effect of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on total factor productivity (TFP) of home (source of FDI) countries in a global sample of 85 economies, distinguishing between outward greenfield FDI (OGFDI) and outward cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) purchases. The...

China has been implementing energy efficiency and CO2 emission reduction schemes at the provincial level that have been embedded in the National Five Year Plans of the country. We set out to investigate the relationship between R&D expenditures and CO2 emissions in China at the province level in...