Mihai Mutascu

Environmental Kuznets curve in Romania and the role of energy consumption

The aim of present study is to probe the dynamic relationship between economic growth, energy consumption and CO2 emissions for period of 1980-2010 in case of Romania. In doing so, ARDL bounds testing approach is applied to investigate the long run cointegration between these variables. Our results confirm long run relationship between economic growth, energy consumption and energy pollutants. The empirical evidence reveals that Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is found both in long-and-short runs in Romania. Further, energy consumption is major contributor to energy pollutants. Democratic regime shows her significant contribution to decline CO2 emissions through effective implementation of economic policies and financial development improves environment i.e. reduces CO2 emissions by redirecting the resources to environment friendly projects.

Economic Growth and FDI in Asia: A Panel-Data Approach

This study examines the impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Asian countries. We did our analysis in the panel framework for the period 1986 to 2008. We also examined the nonlinearities associated with foreign direct investment and exports in the economic growth process of Asian countries under consideration. We find that both foreign direct investment and exports enhance the growth process. In addition, labour and capital also play an important role in the growth of Asian countries. We suggest an export-led growth path particularly at the initial stage of growth and in the later period, dependence on FDI might be a feasible option.

Taxation and Political Stability

The present study is, in particular, an attempt to test the relationship between tax level and political stability by using some economic control variables and to see the relationship among government effectiveness, corruption, and GDP. For the purpose, we used the GMM (1991) and GMM system (1998), using a country-level panel data from 112 countries for the period 1997 to 2010. The main results show that political stability is not the key for the tax policy, under the control of political regime durability the taxes as percent in GDP having consistent sinusoidal tendency, by cubic type.

The revenues-spending nexus in Romania: a TAR and MTAR approach

Abstract This study is an attempt to test the relationship between revenues and government spending, in the case of Romania, over the 1999Q1–2012Q1 period. For this purpose, we have chosen the Threshold Autoregressive (TAR) and Momentum-TAR (MTAR) approaches. The main results obtained through the TAR and MTAR models offer support for the spend-tax hypothesis, with long-run asymmetric adjustment for Romania. Considering this case, whenever dealing with budgetary disequilibrium, it is recommended the Romanian government prioritises the spending component of fiscal policy, with adjustments in the level and structure of public expenditures.

The behaviour of US and UK public debt: further evidence based on time varying parameters

The paper investigates whether US and UK have followed sustainable debt policies during the period 1970-2012, by exploring the reaction of the primary surplus as percentage of GDP to variations in the debt to GDP ratio, as a powerful test. The main results reveal that the coefficient for UK is negative and significant, while for the US, we are unable to find a clear-cut evidence of the sustainability of public debt as the coefficient is also negative, but insignificant. In the case of the UK, the outputs reveal that government did not raise the primary surplus as the government debt increased rather reduced it and this reduction has been significant. On the other hand, the significance of the reaction coefficient demonstrates that the reaction of the primary surplus to increases in public debt varies over time. All these evidences allow us to appreciate that the fiscal policy in the UK is not sustainable in the sense of satisfying of intertemporal budgetary constrain.

Government Revenues and Expenditures in the East European Economies: A Bootstrap Panel Granger Causality Approach

Using a bootstrap panel Granger causality approach, this article investigates the causality between government revenues and government spending from 1995 to 2012 for ten East European economies that are members of the European Union. It finds unidirectional causality from public expenditures to revenues in Bulgaria. For the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia, government revenues explain expenditures, and a two-way causality exists for the Slovak Republic. No Granger causality is found for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania.

Is the Labour Force Participation Rate Non-Stationary in Romania?

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to test hysteresis of the Romanian labour force participation rate, by using time series data, with quarterly frequency, covering the period 1999Q1-2013Q4. The main results reveal that the Romanian labour force participation rate is a nonlinear process and has a partial unit root (i.e. it is stationary in the first regime and non-stationary in the second one), the main breaking point being registered around year 2005. In this context, the value of using unemployment rate as an indicator for capturing joblessness in this country is debatable. Starting from 2005, the participation rate has not followed long-term changes in unemployment rate, the disturbances having permanent effects on labour force participation rate.

The relationship between environmental degradation and happiness in 23 developed contemporary economies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamics between gross domestic product (GDP), environmental degradation and happiness, by using country-level panel-data covering 23 countries, for the period 1961-2005. Design/methodology/approach – For the analysis the authors employed the vector autoregression (VAR) approach in a panel framework. Findings – The main results show that a high level of happiness is associated with a low level of GDP on short term (one year). The joint influence of GDP and environmental degradation on happiness is not significant, while GDP and happiness are unrelated to environmental degradation. Research limitations/implications – The paper extends the literature on developed countries and offers a particular perspective on the relationship between environment degradation and happiness through a GDP growth impulse analysis. Originality/value – The paper offers two main novelties: it simultaneously investigates the “well-being – environment”, and “well-being – eco...