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The consumption patterns of beer, wine and spirits in the UK are analysed to find reasons for the rapid growth in recent years of wine consumption. Data are presented together with the demand model and estimation results. Consumption of the three beverages is simulated to see the effect of various levels of tax and the effects of changes of preference over time. Growth in income, changing preferences and lower tax rates are found to be possible causes for the growth in wine consumption and the corresponding fall in spirits consumption.

We compare environmental impacts associated with incoming foreign direct investment versus domestic capital in China. We use aggregate data on Chinese provinces’ economic and pollution indicators to explore the effects of the financial origin of fixed capital. Our simultaneous models consider three prime channels through which these effects work: economic scale, sectoral composition, and pollution intensity. Results show that emissions associated with foreign financed capital are lower than with domestically financed capital for some but not all of the considered types of pollution.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the agriculture-induced environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in South Asian economies (SAE).

This study employs econometric techniques, including Westerlund cointegration tests, cross-sectional augmented distributive lag model (CS-ARDL) and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (DH) causality tests to investigate the relationship between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, agriculture, economic growth, financial development and carbon emissions in SAE from 1990 to 2019.

The CS-ARDL test outcome supports the presence of the agriculture-induced EKC hypothesis in SAE. Additionally, through the application of the DH causality test, the study confirms a unidirectional causality running from renewable energy consumption (REC), fossil fuel consumption (FFC), economic growth (GDP) and squared economic growth (GDP²) to carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

This study proposes that future research should extend comparisons to worldwide intergovernmental bodies, use advanced econometric methodologies for accurate estimates, and investigate incorporating the service or primary sector into the EKC. Such multidimensional studies can inform various methods for mitigating global climate change and ensuring ecological sustainability.

Environmental degradation has been extensively studied in different regions and countries, but SAE face significant constraints in addressing this issue, and comprehensive studies in this area are scarce. This research is pioneering as it is the first study to investigate the applicability of the agriculture-induced EKC in the South Asian region. By filling this gap in the current literature, the study provides valuable insights into major SAE and their environmental challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight how rising food prices influence the degree of poverty.

This is an empirical study employing the simple regression analysis.

Besides other variables it has been observed that poverty remains an important determinant of a country like Pakistan.

On the basis of this study a socio‐economic policy can be formulated for a developing country like Pakistan.

A development policy (especially considering the urban and rural population) can be formulated on the basis of this research for the provision of basic needs for a developing and an orthodox economy like Pakistan.

This research is beneficial to researchers, policy makers and social scientists for the enhancement of the level of social welfare and poverty alleviation through its findings.

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the literature on alcohol consumption, the externality cost of alcohol consumption, and the effectiveness of policy options.

Evidence on the cost to society of alcohol consumption, the amount of excise tax collected, the demand response of consumers, and the effectiveness of alcohol‐control policies is reviewed.

Alcohol excise taxes generally, but not everywhere, fail to recover the externality costs placed on society that arise from alcohol consumption. Where externality costs are greater than excise revenue higher excise taxes are one effective and appropriate policy response. Complementary policies to higher excise taxes are likely to include: the provision of more information about harmful effects to consumers, especially the young; greater enforcement of drunk‐driving laws and zero tolerance drunk‐driving laws for young drivers. Restrictions on the opening hours of late night venues may have a modest impact on reducing costs, while advertising restrictions are unlikely to be effective.

Typically. articles on alcohol consider a single issue. This review paper brings together information from both the health stream of alcohol studies and the economics stream of alcohol studies and provides a useful survey and synthesis of the literature.

This paper sets out to estimate discount rates for EU members, on a consistent time preference basis, for application in the appraisal of social projects. The value of the discount rate can have an important influence on the allocation of funds between short‐term and long‐term uses.

A key component of the social discount rate is the elasticity of marginal utility of consumption (e) and it is estimated from OECD data relating to marginal and average rates of income tax. A tax model based on the principle of equal absolute sacrifice of satisfaction is employed.

The estimated discount rates, based on social time preference, mostly lie in the range 3‐5.5 per cent. The main source of variation in rates is differential growth in per capita consumption. Estimates of e are reasonably consistent and for 15 of the countries they lie in the range 1.3‐1.6.

For more comprehensive tax information, then additional data from each country's tax authority are required. The research on estimates of e and social time preference rates can be extended to cover non‐European countries.

In the interests of a consistent equitable treatment of future generations, member countries of the EU should employ the same methodology in estimating social discount rates.

This paper applies a practical tax‐based approach to the estimation of e for a large number of European countries. The paper will be of interest to academics specialising in welfare economics and to practitioners involved in social project appraisal.

This paper focusses on how the educated and less-educated middle class react differently to income increases, against an intertwined literature backdrop of Engel's law, quality of life, aspirational and conspicuous consumption. The paper seeks to answer two main questions: Is there evidence of the middle class, particularly the educated, trying to emulate the upper class by shifting towards aspirational consumption? Is there any distinct expenditure behaviour amongst the middle class?

Combining the Malaysian 2016 Household Expenditure Survey (HES) and the 2016 Consumer Price Indices datasets, quantile estimations are applied on the merged dataset of 14,326 households.

There is evidence of the educated middle class emulating the upper class in terms of food share, home furnishing and starchy produce expenditure behaviour. The less-educated middle class exhibits a predilection for home furnishing expenditures when income increases, whilst the educated shows signs of dissociating themselves from such material acquisitions. The paper concludes that the middle class is collectively an aspirational class, but with diverging paths towards upward social mobility between the educated and less-educated households.

Aspirational consumption of the middle class has not been given detailed empirical treatment at the household micro-level in the literature, especially for upper-middle income countries like Malaysia. The paper starts off by detecting an anomaly in the Engel's food share coefficients, where the middle class sees unexpected larger declines in food share than those of the upper class. This is the paper's departure point from the literature.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the nonlinear effects of renewable energy (RE) consumption and economic growth on per capita CO₂ emissions during the time span from 1980 to 2020.

The study uses the logistic smooth transition autoregression (STAR) model to decipher the nonlinear relationship between RE consumption, economic growth and CO₂ emissions in the Indian economy.

The estimated results confirm a nonlinear relationship between India’s economic growth, RE consumption and CO₂ emissions. The authors found that economic growth positively impacts CO₂ emissions until it reaches a specific threshold of 1.81 (per capita growth). Beyond this point, further economic growth leads to a reduction in CO₂ emissions. Similarly, RE consumption positively affects CO₂ emissions until economic growth reaches the same threshold level, after which an increase in RE consumption negatively impacts CO₂ emissions.

The study suggests that India should optimize the balance between economic growth and RE consumption to mitigate CO₂ emissions. Policymakers should prioritize the adoption of RE during the early stages of economic growth. As economic growth reaches the specific threshold of 1.81 per capita, the economy should shift to more sustainable and energy-efficient practices to limit the effect of further CO₂ emissions on further economic growth.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first-ever endeavor to reexamine the nonlinear relationship between RE consumption, economic growth and CO₂ emissions in India, using the STAR model.

The British government takes equity issues formally into account in its appraisal of social projects and policies. However, evidence on which the measured distributional welfare weights are based is neither broad enough nor sufficiently reliable. This paper seeks to address these issues by considering a wider body of evidence.

An important component of the welfare weight measure advocated by HM Treasury is the elasticity of marginal utility of consumption (e). A critical review of existing evidence on e is provided with a view to establishing priority areas for further research. New measures of e are presented based on revealed social values as indicated in specific government policies relating to both foreign aid and proposed income‐related fines for offences. Behavioural evidence based on demand analysis using a co‐integration approach is also presented.

The results for e are sensitive to the estimation approach adopted. While the evidence based on a revealed social values approach including modified tax‐based results suggests that e is close to unity, the measure currently used by HM Treasury, demand analysis suggests an e value close to 1.5. The evidence based on lifetime consumption behaviour is sensitive to model specification and needs updating.

Modified tax‐based findings on e are presented along with new evidence based on alternative revealed social values approaches. The new evidence from demand analysis is based on an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to co‐integration. This paper will be of interest to academics specialising in welfare economics and to practitioners involved in social project appraisal.

The purpose of this study is to assess the influence of institutional quality (IQ), fossil fuel efficiency, structural change and renewable energy (RE) consumption on carbon efficiency.

This research uses an econometric approach, more specifically the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model, to examine the relationship between structural change, RE consumption, IQ, fossil fuel efficiency and carbon efficiency in India from 1996 to 2019.

This study finds the positive contributions of variables like fossil fuel efficiency, technological advancement, structural transformation, IQ and increased RE consumption in fostering environmental development through enhanced carbon efficiency. Conversely, this study emphasises the negative contribution of trade openness on carbon efficiency. These findings provide concise insights into the dynamics of factors impacting carbon efficiency in India.

This study's exclusive focus on India limits the generalizability of findings. Future studies should include a broader range of variables impacting various nations' carbon efficiency. Furthermore, it is worth noting that this study examines renewable and fossil fuel efficiency aggregated. Future research endeavours could yield more specific policy insights by conducting analyses at a disaggregated level, considering individual energy sources such as wind, solar, coal and oil. Understanding how the efficiency of each energy source influences carbon efficiency could lead to more targeted and practical policy recommendations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study addresses a significant gap in the existing literature by being the first empirical investigation into the effects of IQ, fossil fuel efficiency, structural change and RE consumption on carbon efficiency. Unlike prior research, the authors consider a comprehensive IQ index, providing a more holistic perspective. The use of a comprehensive composite index for IQ, coupled with the focus on fossil fuel efficiency and structural change, distinguishes this study from previous research, contributing valuable insights into the intricate dynamics shaping India's path towards enhanced carbon efficiency, an area relatively underexplored in the existing literature.