Title: The dynamics of governance, tourism and environmental degradation: the world evidence

Authors: Muhammad Haseeb; Sallahuddin Hassan; Muhammad Azam; Tulus Suryanto

Addresses: Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies (FBMP), Management and Science University (MSU), University Drive, Seksyen 13, 40100, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia ' School of Economics, Finance and Banking (SEFB), College of Business (COB), University Utara Malaysia (UUM), Sintok, 06010, Kedah, Malaysia ' Department of Economics, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan KPK, Pakistan ' Faculty of Islamic Economics and Business, The State Islamic Institute of Raden Intan, Lampung, Indonesia

Abstract: Efficient utilisation of scarce resources is always the prime aim of every state to ensure social welfare while maintaining a clean and green environment for sustainable development. Therefore, this study is an attempt to empirically investigate the linkages among corruption, democracy, tourism, and CO₂ emissions for selected disaggregate and aggregate panel data over the period 1995-2015. The FMOLS results indicate that the corruption and tourism at disaggregate and aggregate levels are substantial contributors of CO₂ emissions. These empirical results also reveal that corruption and tourism in low-income countries have a higher impact on CO₂ emissions compared to high-income countries. Besides, democracy in all panels except low-income countries has helped to reduce CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, tourism is undeniably a source of economic growth, however, it should not be at the cost of environmental degradation. Similarly, high endemic corruption needs to be controlled, and unregulated CO₂ emissions must be reduced to ensure sustainable development.

Keywords: governance; tourism; environmental degradation; CO₂ emissions; fully modified ordinary least squares; FMOLS.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGENVI.2018.095155

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 2018 Vol.17 No.4, pp.340 - 363

Received: 14 Feb 2017
Accepted: 02 Feb 2018
Published online: 01 Oct 2018 *

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