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The existence of the regional Kuznets curve, i.e. an inverted U-shaped relationship between regional disparity and economic development is widely debated and discussed. The bell-shaped curve of the spatial growth process where during the initial phase inequality increases and then reduces is theoretically supported by Myrdal (1957), Hirschman (1958), and Williamson (1965). It becomes important to understand regional Kuznets curve globally. Understanding the relationship between regional disparity and economic development becomes essential for public policy for balanced regional growth.

Regional Kuznets Curve which is an inverted U-shaped relationship between regional disparity and economic development is not a new phenomenon. Theoretical framework by Myrdal (1957), Hirschman (1958), and Williamson (1965) support the an inverted U-shaped relationship. To understand the relationship between regional disparity and economic development, the authors investigate the regional Kuznets curve by using data for 184 countries and 1765 subnational regions. Using parametric, semi-parametric, and non-parametric, it is found that there exists an inverted U-shaped relationship between regional disparity and economic development. The presence of the regional Kuznets curve is observed. As the theoretical framework suggests, regional inequality increases with income initially and decreases after attaining a certain level of income. This study identifies two stages of divergence-convergence where in the first stage, divergence across regions in a country happens with increasing income and in the later stage, convergence across regions in a country occurs with increasing income.

Using the parametric approach (panel data analysis), semi-parametric and non-parametric approaches, it is found that there exists a regional Kuznets curve. It is found that there exists an inverted-U relationship between regional inequality and per capita GNI. This suggests that the divergence-convergence passes through two stages. In the first stage, divergence across regions in a country happens with increasing income while in the later stage convergence occurs.

This research work has done three important things which fill the research gap that exists in the literature: (1) constructing the Gini coefficient to measure the regional inequality for 184 countries using 1765 subnational regional data; (2) using a parametric approach (panel data analysis) to understand the regional Kuznets phenomenon and (3) using a semi-parametric approach and non-parametric approach to understand the regional Kuznets phenomenon.

This paper aims to analyse empirically the association between flows of foreign direct investment (FDI), net official development assistance (ODA) inflows and trade-related illicit financial outflows.

With this purpose, a linear model was estimated, using different panel-data estimators, and using a database for a sample of 49 countries spanning the period 2008–2017. The used measure of illicit financial outflows was based on the estimates by Global Financial Integrity of deliberate misinvoicing in merchandise trade.

Research findings show a significant and positive association between changes in both relative lagged net FDI flows and relative FDI outflows (as % of gross domestic product) and changes in the ratio of trade-related illicit capital outflows to total trade. However, these positive associations were only observed in the case of low-income countries. Also, the positive association of net ODA inflows on the IFFT outflows were restricted to the cluster of lower-middle-income countries.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to empirically estimate the association between FDI and ODA flows and trade misinvoicing at a macroeconomic level. Research findings may contribute to substantiate the concerns expressed in previous research about the potential unintended effects of aid on illicit capital flight in the case of lower-middle-income countries. They also shown that FDI flows could be an additional conduit for trade-related illicit financial flows in these countries

This study aims to examine the nonlinear threshold effect of shadow economy on sustainable development in Africa while providing additional evidence on how this nonlinear threshold effect play out in economies with high and low developed financial/credit markets.

This study uses 37 African economies between 2009 and 2017 in a dynamic GMM panel model that controls for country, year and technological effects to ensure consistency and reliability of results and findings.

The results reveal that there is an inverted nonlinear U-shape nexus between the size of shadow economy and sustainable development in both short run and long run in Africa and across economies with high and low developed credit/financial market. Also, the threshold points beyond which the size of shadow economies dampens sustainable development is lower for economies with high financial/credit market development and higher in the long run.

These results have policy implications and recommendations and suggest that shadow economies can be beneficial to sustainable development particularly when the size of shadow economies are restrained from increasing beyond certain thresholds/levels. Moreso, to restrict the adverse effect of shadow economies on sustainable development, policymakers can rely on developing their financial/credit markets to tame the destructive nature of shadow economies on sustainable development. These results are robust to technological, year/time and country effects.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study examines for the first in the context of Africa, the nonlinear effect of shadow economies on sustainable development under low and high developed financial markets.

The empirical analysis dealt in this paper emphasizes on the impact of military expenditures on out of pocket (OOP) healthcare payments. A sizeable body of defence economics literature has investigated the trade-off between military and public health expenditure, by testing the crowding-out or growth-stimulating hypothesis; does military expenditure scaling up crowd-out or promote governmental resources for social and welfare programs, including also state health financing?

In this study, panel data from 2000 to 2018 for 129 countries is used to examine the impact of military expenditure on OOP healthcare payments. The dataset of countries is categorized into four income-groups based on World Bank's income-group classification. Dynamic panel data methodology is applied to meet study objectives.

The findings of this study indicate that military expenditure positively affects OOP payments in all the selected groups of countries, strongly supporting in this way the crowding-out hypothesis whereby increased military expenditure reduces the public financing on health. Study econometric results are robust since different and alternative changes in specifications and samples are applied in our analysis.

Under the economic downturn backdrop for several economies in the previous decade and on the foreground of a potential limited governmental fiscal space related to the Covid-19 pandemic adverse economic effects, this study provides evidence that policy-makers have to adjust their government policy initiatives and prioritize Universal Health Coverage objectives. Consequently, the findings of this study reflect the necessity of governments as far as possible to moderate military expenditures and increase public financing on health in order to strengthen health care systems efficiency against households OOP spending for necessary healthcare utilization.

Despite the fact that a sizeable body of defence economics literature has extensively examined the impact of military spending on total and public health expenditures, nevertheless to the best of our knowledge there is no empirical evidence of any direct effect of national defence spending on the main private financing component of health systems globally; the OOP healthcare payments.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of economic growth, digitalisation, eco-innovation, energy consumption and patents on environmental technologies on the volume of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) recorded in European countries for a period of nine years (2010–2018).

Two empirical methods were integrated into the theoretical approach developed based on the analysis of the current scientific framework. Multiple linear regression, an extended version of the OLS model, and a non-causal analysis as a robustness method, Dumitrescu–Hurlin, were used to achieve the proposed research objective.

Digitalisation described by the number of individual Internet users and patents on environmental technologies determines the amount of GHG in Europe, and economic growth continues to have a significant effect on the amount of emissions, as well as the consumption of renewable energy. European countries are not framed in well-established patterns, but the economic growth, digitalisation, eco-innovation and renewable energy have an impact on the amount of GHG in one way or another. In many European countries, the amount of GHGs is decreasing as a result of economic growth, changes in the energy field and digitalisation. The positive influence of economic growth on climate neutrality depends on its degree of sustainability, while patents have the same conditional effect of their translation into environmentally efficient technologies.

This study has a number of limitations which derive, first of all, from the lack of digitalisation indicators. The missing data restricted the inclusion in the analysis of variables relevant to the description of the European digitalisation process, also obtaining conclusive results on the effects of digitalisation on GHG emissions.

A similar analysis of the relationship among the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth, digitalisation, eco-innovation and renewable energy is less common in the literature. Also, the results can be inspirational in the sphere of macroeconomic policy.

This paper investigates the impact of trade liberalization measured by trade openness (OPN) and tariffs on women empowerment measured by the gender gap index and gender development index, for two groups of Arab countries divided based on their income levels using annual data for the period 1995–2020. The study also considers other factors that may influence the gender gap, such as GDP growth and the female unemployment rate. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues and explorers whether the effects of trade liberalization differ based on the countries' income levels.

This study employs the fully modified ordinary least squares (FM-OLS) regression model for heterogeneous cointegrated panels to examine the impact of trade liberalization on women empowerment. The study constructs an empirical two regression model of women empowerment measured by the gender gap model and gender development model for the two groups of higher-income countries and lower and middle-income countries.

The authors’ findings reveal that the impact of OPN on the gender gap varies between the two groups of Arab countries where more OPN within the higher-income group may increase the gender disparity, while it may reduce disparity within the lower and middle-income countries. In addition, GDP growth may reduce the gender disparity, while female unemployment raises the gender disparity between the two groups of countries in the long run. Findings also reveal that more OPN, tariffs and female unemployment may reduce gender development within the two groups, but more GDP growth may support the gender development in the long run.

This paper not only assesses the impact of trade liberalization on women empowerment generally, but also assess the women empowerment via two indices that are the gender gap and gender development in Arab countries which is – to the knowledge of the researchers – not yet investigated; further it explores if the effects of trade liberalization differs based on the countries' income levels.

This paper aims to assess the factors that may explain the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) convergence, considering Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as the theoretical reference for the cultural approach proposed. Additional factors include countries’ contextual and macroeconomic characteristics.

Logistic and probit regression models were used to identify the factors that may explain the IPSAS (fully or adapted) use by countries, including 166 countries in this assessment (59 for those whose cultural dimensions are available).

The findings consistently indicate collectivism and indebtedness levels as explanatory factors, providing insights into cultural dimensions along with macroeconomic characteristics as a relevant factor of countries’ convergence to IPSAS.

There are different levels of IPSAS convergence by countries that were not considered. This aspect may hide different countries’ characteristics that may explain those options, which could not be distinguished in this paper.

As a result of this paper, the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board may gain insights that can be applied within the IPSAS due process to overcome the main challenges when collaborating with national authorities to achieve a high level of convergence. This analysis may include how to accommodate countries’ cultural differences as well as their contextual and macroeconomic characteristics.

There is a trend of moving toward accrual-based accounting standards by countries. Because the public sector embraces a new culture following the IPSAS path, it is relevant to assess if there are cultural factors, besides contextual and macroeconomic characteristics, that may explain the countries’ convergence to those standards.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first cross-country analysis on the likely influence of cultural dimensions on IPSAS convergence as far as the authors’ knowledge.

During the Communist Party of China's endeavors over the past century, China has created “two miracles,” namely, large-scale and rapid economic development and long-term social stability.

The causes for China's achieving the “two miracles” lie in the adherence to the Party's leadership as the political guarantee, the scientific theoretical guidance as the ideological guarantee, the socialist system as well as the national governance system as the institutional guarantee and giving full play of people's creativity under the Party's leadership as the driving force guarantee.

From a political economy point of view, the theoretical logic behind the creation of the “two miracles” is that the combination of the state capacity and the scaling up of markets under the Party's leadership contributes to the rapid economic development and further the long-term social stability based on the financial foundation laid by rapid economic development. The historical experience of the “Two Miracles” can be summed up as the cultivation of state capacity under the leadership of the Party, the synergy and complementarity between the central government and local governments, the combination of development planning and market mechanisms, and the coordination of selective, functional and inclusive industrial policies.

It is necessary to judge future development trends from a medium and long-term development perspective, further promote the co-evolution of the state and the market, reshape the growth regime for high-quality development, fully tap the potential of domestic demand and create a “people-centered” economic development model so as to continue the “two miracles” and achieve a miracle of high-quality development in the second century.

This study aims to identify research trends and technological evolution in the polymer three-dimensional (3D) printing process that can effectively identify the direction of technological advancement and progress of acceptance in both society and key manufacturing industries.

The Scopus database was used to collect data on polymer 3D printing papers. This study uses bibliometric approach along with network analytic techniques to identify and discuss the most important countries and their scientific collaboration, compares income groups and analyses keyword trends.

It was found that top research production results from heavy investments in research and development. The USA has the highest number of papers among the high-income countries. However, scientific production in the other two income groups is strongly dominated by China and India. Keyword analysis shows that countries with lower incomes in certain areas, such as composite and bioprinting, have fallen behind other groups over time. International collaborations were suggested as mechanisms for those countries to catch up with the current research trends. The evolution of the research field, which started with a focus on 3D printing processes and shifted to printed part designs and their applications, was discussed. The advancement of the research topic suggests that translational research on polymer 3D printing has been led mainly by research production from higher-income countries and countries with large research and development investments.

Previous studies have conducted performance analysis, science mapping and network analysis in the field of 3D printing, but none have focused on global research trends classified by country income. This study has conducted a bibliometric analysis and compared the outputs according to various income levels according to the World Bank classification.

Known as the major capital providers in Belt and Road countries and the largest carbon emitter in the world, what role China's outward direct investment (ODI) plays in carbon neutralization has become a matter of concern. This study aims to measure the impact of China's ODI on the carbon emissions of Belt and Road countries.

Based on an econometric model and an inter-regional input–output model, a new model measuring the carbon emission effects of ODI is developed.

The empirical results show that (1) in general, China's ODI generates an emission-reduction effect in Belt and Road countries; (2) The relationship between the emission-reduction effect and income level of host countries shows an approximate inverted U-shaped trend; and (3) China's ODI generates stronger emission-reduction effects on capital-intensive industries.

This study quantitatively measures the scale of carbon emission-increase and reduction effect, which is relatively lacking in previous studies. This study explores the heterogeneity from the perspectives of regions, countries and industries. The authors have compiled an inter-regional input–output table for the Belt and Road countries for 2014 to provide a broad basis for the study of related issues.