• Energy Research

Abstract Using a sample of 100 countries from 1980 to 2015, this paper investigates the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), imports, gross capital formation, and industry value-added on energy efficiency before and after the 2008 global financial crisis. Our findings reveal that failing to control for economic downturns may lead to misleading results. Moreover, we find that the effects of these channels are different between low, middle and high-income countries. Our study also shows that the effect of FDI on energy savings is inverted U-shaped whereas the effect of imports on energy savings is U-shaped when we control for the income level of the countries.

Abstract We investigate the effects of human development and political stability on environmental quality and examine whether they are viable tools for improving environmental policies. The literature finds that countries can reduce harmful emissions beyond a certain per capita income threshold. However, this literature omits the impact of human development and political stability. We fill this gap using a sample of 16 Middle Eastern and North African countries over the period 1990–2016 to examine environmental quality–human development causality and the effects of political stability on this relationship. We reveal the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between human development and the ecological footprint that varies between oil and non-oil countries. Moreover, we show that political unrest delays environmental improvements. Our findings are critically important for policymakers, because they demonstrate the positive effects of human development and political stability on the environment through better education and healthcare systems.