The efficient use of energy contributes to less energy consumption and the reduction of greenhouse gases released to nature, thus improving environmental sustainability. For this reason, many countries pioneered by the developed nations are trying to develop policies for energy efficiency. In this context, the relationship between energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions was tested by panel co-integration, panel causality, and FMOLS and DOLS analysis. Given that the study used the datasets of 29 European countries over the period 1995-2016, there result suggests that there is a long-term relationship between energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions and that the quantity of greenhouse gas emission decreases as energy efficiency increases. Finally, the robustness and novelty by employing the Emirmahmutoglu & Kose (2011) Testing for Granger causality in heterogeneous mixed panels. Economic Modelling, 28(3), 870-876 approach, the findings illustrated that there is a causal relationship between energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions for many European countries. Overall, the current study presents a relevant policy direction for the European bloc countries.

With the increasing challenge of attaining sustainable balance in socioeconomic-ecosystem activities, the aspects of the global goals are continously being harnesed in order to ensure a sustainable interaction. As an alliance of the United Nations, the G-20 member countries have not only committed to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, the alliance body has further fostered frameworks that are targeted at advancing global economic and environmental sustainability. Within this context, the current study examined the environmental sustainability effects arising from the economic freedom prowess in the panel of the G-20 economies over the period 2000–2016. Among the sparse studies, the study employed the indices of economic freedom: freedom to trade internationally, regulation, sound money, legal framework, and property right and alongside the real income and renewable energy consumption as explanatory indicators. With the result of the difference- and two-step system GMM (generalized method of moments), the legal system and property right, sound money, freedom to international trade, and regulatory efficiency are detrimental to the panel countries’ environmental quality. Although this is likely to be untrue for countries that have advanced their climate actions and especially the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, it suggests a dearth in the SDGs achievement among the developing and emerging economies. Moreover, it probably shows the depth of traditional or business-as-usual practices (such as the lack of sustainable economic and environmental practices) and the socioeconomic system that are obtainable in most of the developing and emerging economies. Thus, the study put forward tangible policies that are essential for governance and toward attaining desirable country-specific SDGs.

Küresel risk iştahının göstergesi olarak kabul edilen VIX endeksi bir çok ülkenin finansal yapıcıları tarafından takip edilmektedir. Çünkü VIX endeksinden meydana gelen değişimler ulusal piyasalardaki bir çok finansal göstergeyi de etkilemektedir. Bu bağlamda çalışmanın amacı VIX endeksinin Türkiye’deki çeşitli finansal göstergeler üzerinde bir etkisinin olup olmadığı hem Granger (1969) nedensellik analizi hem Breitung ve Candelon frekans nedensellik analizi hem de Johansen eşbütünleşme analizi ile test etmektir. Granger nedensellik analizi sonucunda VIX endeksindeki değişimin, BİST 100 endeksi, Dolar ve Euro kuru, sanayi üretim endeksi, reel kesim ve tüketici güven endeksi, satın alma yöneticileri endeksi ve risk iştahı endeksindeki değişimlerin nedeni olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Frekans nedensellik analizi sonuçlarına göre ise VIX endeksindeki değişimden BİST 100 endeksi, Dolar ve Euro kuru, faiz oranı, sanayi üretim endeksi, reel kesim güven endeksi, satın alma yöneticileri endeksi ve risk iştahı endeksindeki değişime doğru nedenselliğin kalıcı, tüketici güven endeksindeki değişime doğru nedenselliğin ise geçici olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Eşbütünleşme analizine göre ise VIX ile ilgili değişkenler arasında uzun dönemli bir ilişki olduğu tespit edilmiştir.

This study aims to examine the potential causal relationship between the VIX and the indicator stock exchange index returns of G20 (9 developed and 10 developing) countries. Nineteen countries of the sample are G20 countries with available data. In this respect, the frequency domain Granger causality test of Breitung and Candelon (2006) is employed for the daily data between March 2011 and December 2017. The results obtained from the study indicate that there is no causal relationship between the VIX and the returns of the NASDAQ 100 index in developed countries. Similarly, no causal relationship is detected which runs from the VIX to the BIST100, BOVESPA, MERVAL, S&P/BMV IPC and TADAWUL stock index returns in developing countries. As a result, the causal relationship is more tend to be found in developed countries in comparison to developing countries.

The effect and significant of risk in every real life situation is increasingly becoming a pertinent subject in almost every field, thus causing potential adverse effects on both the individual’s propensity to consume and invest. Also, the likelihood of the exposure of the developing countries to geopolitical risks amid experience of economic fragilities as indicated by security indexes has remained an important driver of the global market dynamics. On this note, this study is aimed at examining whether related risks in selected economies (Brazil, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Russia, China, South Africa, Mexico, and Turkey) with geopolitical risks have a significant effect on consumer and producer confidence indexes by employing a monthly data between January 2004 and June 2018. A combination of two panel causality tecniques that examined both the panel and country-specific causality were employed to examine both the panel causal relationship and the country-specific causal relationship. The study found a causality relationship from geopolitical risk index to the consumer and producer confidence index for the overall panel. Also, the results in terms of the individual country showed that causality from the geopolitical risk index to the consumer confidence index is valid for Indonesia, South Africa, and Mexico. Meanwhile, the causality from geopolitical risk index to producer confidence index is valid for China, Indonesia, South Korea, and Mexico. The study presented useful financial and securtity policy measure for the examined panel of selected countries.