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This study aims to examine the interconnection among the oil volatility index (OVX) and the Chinese stock markets (CSM) during the financial crisis over the period June 1, 2007 to June 26, 2012.

Applying the time-varying Granger causality test, this paper conducts an exhaustive analysis of the OVX and the CSMs during the financial crisis. In particular, the financial crisis is classified in three stages, namely, the US subprime crisis, the global financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis.

Briefly, the findings indicate almost a neutral relationship between the OVX and the CSMs during the entire financial crisis, the US subprime crisis and the global financial crisis. Finally, this paper has found a positive relationship between the OVX and the CSMs during the sovereign debt crisis.

This outcome clearly suggests that Chinese investors have to disregard uncertain information. In addition, policymakers can ameliorate the willingness of market investors in the CSM and further deepen the market-oriented reform of China’s domestic oil prices.

The innovative combination of these two strands, the OVX and the three stages of the financial crisis, is empirically examined in the study and this paper finds a non-linear linkage between the OVX and CSMs.

The study aims to investigate the nexus between total factor productivity and tourism growth in Latin American countries for time series data from 1995 to 2017.

Using the extension of the Granger noncausality test in the nonlinear time-varying of Ajmi et al. (2015), the study points out the interconnectedness between the variables during the period.

The study found nonlinear causality between the variables. Particularly, studying the conclusions for the time-varying Granger causality fashion, it can be noticed that the one-way causality from total factor productivity to tourism growth is obtained for Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela, while the vice versa is confirmed for Chile, Ecuador and Nicaragua. Lastly, the study dissected the plots of the curve causality.

In view of the results, some crucial policy implications could be suggested, such as, under certain circumstances and as an exceptional case, the use of policy instruments such as targeted investment, marketing and the support of tourism organizations focused on driving a tourism-led-based productivity and/or tourism programs and projects.

The current work is distinguished from the existing body of understanding in several substantial directions. This work explores, for the first time, the linkages between the total factor productivity index and tourism growth for Latin American countries. No single attempt has been known to investigate this interaction by using nonlinear causality, and this study determines the shape of the curve between the total factor productivity index and tourism growth for each country.

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.

Using composite indices, the paper examines the nexus between militarization, globalization and liberal democracy. The democratic peace theory, the conflict inhibiting effects of international trade – a key and dominant facet of globalization – and the democracy promoting globalization hypothesis form the theoretical underpinnings of the empirical investigation.

To probe into the issue at hand, the paper adopts a dynamic panel VAR estimation procedure. Given the usual data constraints, the sample consists of 113 countries, and the estimations span the period 1995–2019.

The findings from the dynamic panel VAR estimations suggest the presence of a negative and statistically significant nexus between the level of globalization and the level of militarization. No statistically traceable nexus between globalization and liberal democracy was found.

The findings offer empirical support to the hypothesis that the strong links of interdependence shaped by globalization reduce the need for military preparedness. The results lead to a tentative inference in favor of the doux commerce thesis. Nonetheless, given that the estimations span a historically specific period – the entire post-bipolar era – the inferences that stem from the findings should be treated with caution.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the composite indices Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC) militarization index, the globalization index of the Swiss Economic Institute (Konjunkturforschungsstelle) (KOF), LibDem, polyarchy have not hitherto been jointly used in previous studies to examine the nexus between militarization, globalization and liberal democracy.

Conflict and civil strife adversely affect the economy since it severely disrupts the normal, daily routine of economic activity. Similarly, economic downturns can trigger discontent that has the potential to escalate into social unrest and strife. Using the recently compiled index on social unrest (RSUI) of Barrett et al. (2020), the paper sets out to examine the nexus between economic growth and social unrest in the case of 29 Middle East and Central Asia countries over the period 2000–2018.

To probe into the issue at hand, the paper adopts a panel causality approach. To this effect, two panel causality tests are used. The first is the heterogeneous panel causality model proposed by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) is employed. The second panel Granger causality test is the frequency domain causality test constructed by Breitung and Candelon (2006) and extended for panel testing by Croux and Reusens (2013).

The results of the causality tests indicate a strong bidirectional nexus between civil unrest and economic growth. The findings support the contention that civil strife adversely affects economic performance and economic downturns can trigger discontent and unrest.

Albeit consistent and robust, the results reported herein concern the specific sample of countries under scrutiny. Extending the analysis to other groups of countries will offer better insights into the nexus between civil unrest and economic performance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present paper is the first to address the nexus between social unrest and economic growth for this group of countries using the recently compiled index on social unrest (RSUI).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the energy consumption and the economic growth in the USA and in a sectoral level by using monthly data from January 1991 to May 2016.

While assessing the relationship at a country level, the authors also examine five sectors by using quantile causality.

The findings indicate the existence of a causality at the sectoral level in tails. More specifically, industrial and electric sectors cause the growth at the lower and higher levels. Residential, commercial and transportation sectors do not cause the growth in all levels. Total consumption causes the growth in the middle and low levels but not in the high level. Finally, the empirical evidence signifies an asymmetric relationship between the covariates.

The results imply that when the consumption deals conditions with fluctuation, it is likely to be affected by growth. In such a case, energy policies gear toward reducing or increasing energy intensity, improving energy efficiency, encouraging the use of alternative sources and investing in the development of technology.

The authors use, for the first time, the quantile causality for the case of energy consumption and economic growth. The quantile test is useful for a thorough comprehension of the causal relationship for this area. Compared to the OLS, which is used for the majority of causality tests, the quantile investigates the causality at the sectoral level in the tails.

This research analyzes, for the first time, the linkage among the gathered dataset of globalization indicators, the total factor productivity index and tourism development in a panel of 25 European countries during the 1995–2016 period.

The Generalized Method of Moments estimator for panel Vector Autoregressive Regression model is implemented and as a robustness test, the panel Granger causality test is used.

The findings have divulged that globalization and total factor productivity increase tourism development. An increase in the economic globalization de factor indicator will cause an increase in tourism development in European countries. Moreover, an increase in the social globalization de jure indicator will lead to a higher level of tourism development in European countries.

Policy-makers should use the complementary association between globalization and international tourism to promote productivity in European countries. These countries can also utilize the tourism sector as a tool to enhance the connectivity of their economies and societies with other parts of the world.

We use for the first time the globalization index as proposed by Gygli et al. (2019) in the tourism discipline. We evaluate the total factor productivity index instead of the economic growth applied by the majority of the researchers and we employ for the first time in the tourism field the GMM–PVAR framework.

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.