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This study aims to explore the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores and the components of cost of capital in two distinct legal systems, while also examining the unique effect of each ESG pillar on these components.

Using a sample of 4,846 firms across 60 countries, categorized into either civil law or common law systems, the authors test this study’s hypotheses using ordinary least squares and instrumental variables two-stage least squares.

The findings reveal a negative relationship between ESG and the components of the cost of capital for firms operating in civil law systems, whether measured by the cost of debt or the cost of equity. In contrast, firms in common law systems exhibit a negative relationship only with the cost of equity. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the influence of each ESG pillar on the components of the cost of capital varies across these two legal systems.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first investigation into the relationship between ESG scores and the components of cost of capital across two distinct jurisdictions. Additionally, it provides evidence regarding the distinct impact of each pillar of ESG on the components of cost of capital.

This study aims to revisit the empirical debate about the asymmetric relationship between oil prices, energy consumption, CO₂ emissions and economic growth in a panel of 184 countries from 1981 to 2020.

A relatively new research method, the PVAR system GMM, is applied.

The outcome of the PVAR system GMM model at the group level in the study suggests that oil prices exert a positive but statistically insignificant effect on economic growth. Energy consumption is inversely related to economic growth but statistically significant, and the correlation between CO₂ emissions and economic growth is negative but statistically insignificant. The Granger causality test indicates that oil prices, CO₂ emissions, oil rents, energy consumption and savings jointly Granger-cause economic growth. A unidirectional causality runs from energy consumption, savings and economic growth to oil prices. At countries’ income grouping levels, oil prices, oil rent, CO₂ emissions, energy consumption and savings jointly Granger-cause economic growth for the high-income and upper-middle-income countries groups only, while those variables did not jointly Granger-cause economic growth for the low-income and lower-middle-income countries groups. The modulus emanating from the eigenvalue stability condition with the roots of the companion matrix indicates that the model is stable. The results support the asymmetric impacts of oil prices on economic growth and aid policy formulation, particularly the cross-country disparities regarding the nexus between oil prices and growth.

From a methodological perspective, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the study is the first attempt to use the PVAR system GMM and such a large sample group of 184 economies in the post-COVID-19 era to examine the impacts of oil prices on countries’ growth while controlling for other crucial variables, which is noteworthy. Two, using the World Bank categorisation of countries according to income groups, the study adds another layer of contribution to the literature by decomposing the 184 sample economies into four income groups: high-income, low-income, upper-middle-income and lower-middle-income groups to investigate the potential for asymmetric effects of oil prices on growth, the first of its kind in the post-COVID-19 period.