economic growth

Life expectancy and infant mortality are two major indicators for assessing the efficiency of every social health system. The bulk of literature on health economics is related to unilateral influences of macroeconomic variables on health sector indices and less attention has been paid to bilateral and simultaneous effects. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the bilateral and simultaneous impacts of the key macroeconomic variables on life expectancy and infant mortality in Iran during 1981-2018. To this end, by considering the government’s health care expenditures and GINI coefficient, a system of simultaneous equations based on variables of life expectancy, infant mortality and economic growth is developed. The findings indicated that income growth per capita affects the growth of life expectancy index positively by 31%, but the growth of social-class differences or income inequality has a negative effect on this index. Moreover, the escalation of health care budget in Iran has led to slumps in infant mortality rate by 83%. Such outcome exhibits the significant role of government, parliament and legislature in approving and improving the budget of the Ministry of Health and facilitating achievement of higher social-health standards. Finally, findings of present study reflected the simultaneous and positive effects of improving growth of life expectancy and reverse effect of infant mortality growth indices on the economic growth of Iran. The estimations provided evidence on the interactions between enhancing the macroeconomic conditions and improving the health economy indicators and existence of a reinforcing loop between them.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) as a growth accelerating component has received a great attention in developed countries even in developing and less developed countries during recent years. It has a matter of greater concern for the economists how FDI affects economic growth of the host country economy. In closed economy there is no access to the foreign instruments and savings, this type of economy solely based on the domestic savings and investment sources. But in open economy, the investment comes from both sources either from domestic savings or foreign capital inflows like FDI. FDI enables the host country to achieve the investment level beyond its capacity to improve GDP and economic growth.  FDI encourages the process of economic growth by filling up the saving-investment gap; transferring advanced technology, new entrepreneurship. This study investigates the impact of Foreign Direct Investment on economic growth in 30 Islamic countries. The econometric model is estimated by using Pooled Mean Group (PMG) for dynamic heterogeneous panels over the period 1992-2018.  The results of the study show that FDI inflows have positive and significant effects on economic growth. Of course, the impacts of interaction terms between FDI and human capital; FDI, and trade openness on economic growth are more than each of them separately in the long and short run.  The study suggests that the Islamic governments should design and implement appropriate fiscal, monetary and trade policies to make and improve an enabling environment to attract foreign Capital inflows as a supplementary source of domestic investment.

The financial sector plays a central role in economic development and growth, and due to playing an intermediary role in allocating resources to all sectors of the economy, by reducing financing costs and encouraging savings and their efficient use, a major contribution. In the long-term economic growth of the government in oil-exporting countries, relying on oil revenues, it is possible to enter the financial markets extensively and make various changes in it. The main goal of policymakers from such changes is to stimulate economic growth. But studies in this area show that fiscal development does not necessarily lead to economic growth. However, in recent decades, the role of financial development in economic growth has been forgotten. Therefore, this study examines the impact of the development of financial institutions on economic growth. The statistical population of the present study consists of MENA member countries in the period 1980 to 2019. In order to conduct this research, due to the nonlinear relationship between the research variables, the PSTR model and Markov switching time series pattern have been used. Financial depth, accessibility and efficiency are also variables in the development of financial institutions that have been considered in this study. The results indicate that all three components of the financial institutions development index have a significant effect on the economic growth variable.

This study examined the correlation between economic growth and the impact on the environment, specifically focusing on the concept of environmental sustainability. The World Bank's Adjusted Net Savings (ANS) data is utilized in this study to gauge the strain on the environment, specifically through the measurement of natural disinvestment. This measurement encompasses the cumulative effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) damage, as well as depletions in minerals, energy, and forest resources. This study uses panel data with respect to the endogeneity of explanatory variables to estimate the real effect of per capita income and the other variables on environmental pressure. In this regard, employing the panel Fixed-Effects Instrumental Variable (IV) methodology, the data from 213 countries have been used in the period from 1990 to 2018. Through regression analysis, it has been discovered that there is a direct correlation between income and the impact on the environment in developing nations. However, this relationship is notably more pronounced in low-income countries compared to high-income countries. Additionally, the study reveals that trade expansion contributes to an increase in environmental pressure across all groups of countries. An increase in the school enrolment rate can affect the environment in developed and high-income developing countries. Moreover, the variable effect of capital openness on environmental pressure was estimated to be positive for developed and high-income countries. However, this effect was found to be negative for low-income countries. Finally, the result showed that developing countries should improve their legal structure and also reduce the bureaucracy and complexity of the laws.

The impact of health infrastructure on economic growth in the framework of endogenous growth models has been studied in a few research pieces; however, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on economic growth in the endogenous growth models has not yet been studied. The present article expands the existing pieces of literature in several ways. First, investigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on economic growth in a steady-state situation. Second, identifying the threshold level of health infrastructure impact on long-term economic growth by considering the Covid-19 pandemic. Third, modeling of population dynamics and the Covid-19 pandemic. Fourth, modeling the level of following the protocols and public awareness of the Covid-19 pandemic and examining their impact on long-term economic growth. The developed model was calibrated using the information of a transition country, Iran. Results show If the health infrastructure is higher than the threshold level of 0.87, the output level will have an upward trend in the presence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Otherwise, the output trend will be downward. The increasing output could lead to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic even in the long run in the Iranian economy. At a certain level of income, with the improvement of the health infrastructure, the level of Covid-19 pandemic release will decrease.

This paper examines the non-linear relationship between CO2 emissions and economic development using an innovative dynamic panel threshold technique. The sample consists of 35 developed countries over the period 2003-2010. The empirical results indicate that there is a threshold effect in the relationship between economic growth and pollutant emissions as suggested by the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). In particular, at the early stage of economic development below the estimated threshold value, more growth deteriorates the environmental problems. However, after this threshold value further growth serves as a solution to the environmental problems. Accordingly, promoting economic growth and becoming rich in the long run, is necessary to solve the environmental problems arising from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the short run and in the early stage of economic growth, focus on investments in environmentally friendly technology and on the use of renewable energy is necessary for mitigating the pollution effects of economic progress.