Mobile Phone Innovation and Environmental Sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa

Asongu, Simplice and Nwachukwu, Jacinta (2017): Mobile Phone Innovation and Environmental Sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Abstract

This study investigates how the mobile phone can complement knowledge diffusion in order to influence CO2 emissions in 44 Sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000-2012. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments. Three knowledge diffusion variables representing three of the four pillars of the World Bank’s Knowledge Economy Index are employed: educational quality, information and communication technology (ICT) and scientific output. Six CO2 emission variables are used, namely: CO2 per capita, CO2 from electricity and heat, CO2 from liquid fuel, CO2 from manufacturing and construction, CO2 from transport and CO2 intensity. In the assessments, a decreasing tendency in these variables translates into positive conditions for environmental sustainability. Based on net effect from complementarities, the following findings are established. First, the mobile phone complements education to have a net negative effect on CO2 emissions per capita and CO2 emissions from the consumption of liquid fuel. Second, where some positive net effects of knowledge diffusion are apparent, corresponding marginal effects are negative. Corresponding mobile phone penetration thresholds at which the positive net effects on CO2 emissions can be dampened and reversed are largely within policy range. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: CO2 emissions; ICT; Economic development; Africa
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C5 - Econometric Modeling > C52 - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O38 - Government Policy; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O40 - General; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O55 - Africa; P - Economic Systems > P3 - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions > P37 - Legal Institutions ; Illegal Behavior

References

Akbostanci, E., S. Turut-Asi & Tunc, G. I., (2009). “The Relationship between Income and Environment in Turkey: Is there an Environmental Kuznets Curve?”, Energy Policy, 37(3), pp. 861-867.

Akinlo, A. E., (2008). “Energy consumption and economic growth: evidence from 11 Sub-Sahara African countries”. Energy Economics, 30(5), pp. 2391–2400.

Akinyemi, O., Alege, P., Osabuohien, E., & Ogundipe, A., (2015). “Energy Security and the Green Growth Agenda in Africa: Exploring Trade-offs and Synergies”, Department of Economics and Development Studies, Covenant University, Nigeria.

Akpan, G. E. & Akpan, U. F. (2012). “Electricity Consumption, Carbon Emissions and Economic Growth in Nigeria”, International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 2(4), pp. 292-306.

Ang, J. B. (2007). “CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and output in France”, Energy Policy, 35(10), pp. 4772-4778.

Anyangwe, E. (2014). “Without energy could Africa’s growth run out of steam?” theguardian, http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/nov/24/energy-infrastructure-clean-cookstoves-africa (Accessed: 08/09/2015).

Apergis, N. & J. Payne, J. E., (2009). “CO2 emissions, energy usage, and output in Central America”, Energy Policy, 37(8), pp. 3282-3286.

Ashraf, Q., & Galor, O., (2013). “The Out of Africa Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development”. American Economic Review, 103(1), pp. 1-46.

Asiedu, E., (2014). “Does Foreign Aid in Education Promote Economic Growth? Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa”, Journal of African Development, 16(1), pp. 37-59.

Asongu, S. A., (2013). “How has mobile phone penetration stimulated financial development in Africa?”, Journal of African Business, 14(1), pp. 7-18.

Asongu, S. A., (2017). “Conditional Determinants of Mobile Phones Penetration and Mobile Banking in Sub-Saharan Africa”, Journal of the Knowledge Economy. DOI: 10.1007%2Fs13132-015-0322-z.

Asongu, S. A, & De Moor, L., (2017). “Financial Globalisation Dynamic Thresholds for Financial Development: Evidence from Africa”, European Journal of Development Research, 29(1), pp. 192-212.

Asongu, S. A., El Montasser, G., & Toumi, H., (2016a). “Testing the relationships between energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and economic growth in 24 African countries: a panel ARDL approach”, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 23(7), pp. 6563–6573.

Asongu, S. A., Le Roux, S., & Tchamyou, V. S., (2017). “Essential Information Sharing Thresholds for Reducing Market Power in Financial Access: A Study of the African Banking Industry”, Journal of Banking Regulation: Forthcoming.

Asongu, S. A, & Nwachukwu, J. C., (2016a). “The Mobile Phone in the Diffusion of Knowledge for Institutional Quality in Sub Saharan Africa”, World Development, 86(October), pp. 133-147.

Asongu, S. A., & Nwachukwu, J. C., (2016b). “The Role of Governance in Mobile Phones for Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa”, Technovation, 55-56 (September- October), pp. 1-13.

Asongu, S. A, & Nwachukwu, J. C., (2016c). “Foreign aid and governance in Africa”, International Review of Applied Economics, 30(1), pp. 69-88.

Asongu, S. A., Nwachukwu, J., & Tchamyou, S. V., (2016a). “Information Asymmetry and Financial Development Dynamics in Africa”, Review of Development Finance, 6(2), pp. 126– 138.

Asongu, S. A. & Rangan, G., (2015). “Trust and Quality of Growth”, Economics Bulletin, 36(3), pp. 1854-1867.

Baltagi, B. H., (2008). “Forecasting with panel data”, Journal of Forecasting, 27(2), pp. 153-173.

Batuo, M. E., & Kupukile, M., (2010), “How can economic and political liberalization improve financial development in African countries?”, Journal of Financial Economic Policy, 2(1), pp. 35-59.

Beck, T., Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Levine, R., (2003), “Law and finance: why does legal origin matter?”, Journal of Comparative Economics, 31(4), pp. 653-675.

Begum, R. A., Sohag, K., Abdullah S. M. S., & Jaafar, M., (2015). “CO2 emissions, energy consumption, economic and population growth in Malaysia”, Renewal and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 41(January), pp. 594-601.

Blundell, R., & Bond, S., (1998). “Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models” Journal of Econometrics, 87(1), pp. 115-143.

Boateng, A., Asongu, S. A., Akamavi, R., & Tchamyou, V. S., (2016). “Information Asymmetry and Market Power in the African Banking Industry”, African Governance and Development Institute Working Paper No. 16/032, Yaoundé.

Bölük, G., & Mehmet, M., (2015). “The renewable energy, growth and environmental Kuznets curve in Turkey: An ARDL approach”, Renewal and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 52(December), pp. 587-595.

Bond, S., Hoeffler, A., & Tample, J. (2001) “GMM Estimation of Empirical Growth Models”, University of Oxford.

Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.

Diao, X. D., Zeng, S. X., Tam, C. M. & Tam, V. W .Y., (2009). “EKC Analysis for Studying Economic Growth and Environmental Quality: A Case Study in China”, Journal of Cleaner Production, 17(5), pp. 541-548.

Esso, L.J. (2010). “Threshold cointegration and causality relationship between energy use and growth in seven African countries”, Energy Economics, 32(6), pp. 1383-1391.

Fosu, A. K. (2015). “Growth, Inequality and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent Progress in a Global Context”, Oxford Development Studies, 43(1), pp. 44-59.

He, J., & Richard, P., (2010). “Environmental Kuznets Curve for Co2 in Canada”, Ecological Economics, 69(5), pp. 1083-1093.

Huxster, J. K., Uribe-Zarain, X. & Kempton, W., (2015). “Undergraduate Understanding of Climate Change: The Influences of College Major and Environmental Group Membership on Survey Knowledge Scores”, The Journal of Environmental Education, 46(3), pp. 149-165.

Jumbe, C. B., (2004). “Cointegration and Causality between Electricity Consumption and GDP: Empirical Evidence from Malawi”, Energy Economics, 26(1), pp. 61-68.

Kifle, T. (2008). “Africa hit hardest by Global Warming despite its low Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, Institute for World Economics and International Management Working Paper No. 108, http://www.iwim.uni-bremen.de/publikationen/pdf/b108.pdf (Accessed: 08/09/2015).

Love, I., & Zicchino, L., (2006). “Financial Development and Dynamic Investment Behaviour: Evidence from Panel VAR” .The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 46(2), pp. 190-210.

Mehrara, M., (2007). “Energy consumption and economic growth: The case of oil exporting countries”, Energy Policy, 35(5), pp. 2939-2945.

Menyah, K., & Wolde-Rufael, Y., (2010). “Energy consumption, pollutant emissions and economic growth in South Africa”, Energy Economics, 32(6), pp. 1374-1382.

Odhiambo, N. M., (2009a). “Electricity consumption and economic growth in South Africa: a trivariate causality test”. Energy Economics, 31(5), pp. 635–640.

Odhiambo, N. M., (2009b). “Energy consumption and economic growth nexus in Tanzania: an ARDL bounds testing approach”. Energy Policy, 37 (2), pp. 617–622.

Olusegun, O. A., (2008). “Consumption and Economic Growth in Nigeria: A bounds testing cointegration approach”, Journal of Economic Theory, 2(4), pp. 118-123.

Ozturk, I., & Acaravci, A., (2010). “CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in Turkey”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 14(9), pp. 3220-3225.

Penard, T., Poussing, N., Yebe, G. Z., & Ella, P. N., (2012). “Comparing the Determinants of Internet and Cell Phone Use in Africa: Evidence from Gabon ”, Communications & Strategies, 86(2), pp. 65-83.

Petrakis, P. E., & Stamatakis, D. (2002). “Growth and educational levels: a comparative analysis”. Economics of Education Review, 21 (2), pp. 513-521.

Roller, L-H., & Waverman, L. (2001). “Telecommunications infrastructure and economic development: a simultaneous approach”, American Economic Review, 91(4), pp. 909-923.

Roodman, D., (2009a). “A Note on the Theme of Too Many Instruments”, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 71(1), pp. 135-158.

Roodman, D., (2009b). “How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata”, Stata Journal, 9(1), pp. 86-136.

Shurig, S. (2015). “Who will fund the renewable solution to the energy crisis?”, theguardian, http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/jun/05/renewable-energy-electricty-africa-policy (Accessed: 08/09/2015).

Tchamyou, V. S., (2016). “The role of knowledge economy in African business”, Journal of the Knowledge Economy, DOI: 10.1007/s13132-016-0417-1.