China’s rapid expansion of digital financial inclusion in the last few years has dramatically augmented the accessibility and affordability of financial services, predominantly serving formerly financially excluded people, and positively contributes to higher economic growth. Despite the importance of digital financial inclusion in promoting economic growth, empirical evidence is relatively thin. Moreover, none of the studies has considered human capital in the nexus. Therefore, this study examines the impact of digital financial inclusion and human capital on China’s provincial economic growth. Unlike previous studies, this study uses the new proxy of digital financial inclusion based on breadth of coverage, depth of usage, and digitalization level. The empirical findings show that digital financial inclusion and human capital significantly affect China’s provincial economic growth. Based on this study’s findings, we recommend investment in human capital development and, at the same time, upgrading digital financial inclusion to attain higher economic growth.

The high pace of economic growth has posed many challenges. These challenges include depletion of natural resources, globalization challenges, and environmental degradation. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) economies are rich in mineral resources. Economic globalization has put the MENA countries in the spotlight for the developed world. Despite the status of being a hotspot for mineral resource richness, there is limited research on the effect of natural resources and economic globalization on the environmental degradation of the MENA countries. This paper examines the effects of natural resource abundance and economic globalization on environmental quality by considering trade openness, urbanization, and economic growth from the year 1980 to 2018. We apply second‐generation panel cointegration techniques along with continuously updated fully modified (Cup‐FM) and continuously updated bias‐corrected (Cup‐BC) techniques. The findings show that natural resource abundance significantly improves environmental quality. Likewise, economic globalization also mitigates emissions levels in the MENA countries. In contrast, trade openness, urbanization, and economic growth significantly deteriorate environmental quality. The unidirectional link indicates natural resources and economic globalization create trade openness. The paper provides novel empirical evidence and policy recommendations for sustainable development goals.