Politická ekonomie 2025, 74(5) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1542
Digital transformation is reshaping economic structures worldwide, yet its implications for income inequality remain debated. This study examines the relationship between digital readiness (DR) and income inequality across twelve advanced and emerging economies from 2005-2024. Using panel regression, clustering, and machine learning approaches, the study explores trends, structural country groupings, and the determinants of inequality. The results reveal heterogeneous dynamics: emerging economies often experience inequality reductions as digital readiness improves, whereas the effects in advanced economies are weaker or insignificant. Fixed-effects...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 74(5) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1524
This paper employs a VAR model with economically meaningful structural restrictions to examine how monetary policy shocks originating from the Fed and the ECB influence macroeconomic variables in Central European economies, specifically the Visegrad Group (V4). We investigate whether US monetary policy shocks affect the V4 independently or primarily through Germany. Our results indicate that US monetary policy shocks significantly affect V4 macroeconomic variables, at times equalling or surpassing the influence exerted by their European counterparts, even after accounting for indirect effects transmitted through Germany. Additionally, our findings...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 74(5) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1510
This study focuses on Southeast Asian countries that have attracted attention with their recent economic growth performance. The validity of environmental sustainability is investigated through data for the period 1973-2022. For this purpose, ecological footprint data from Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are used. Unit root tests with various power properties are used in the study. Firstly, we use ADF and PP unit root tests based on the Dickey-Fuller unit root test procedure. In addition, among the nonlinear unit root tests, those of Leybourne et al. (1998) and Harvey and Mills (2002) are used....
Politická ekonomie 2025, 74(5) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1522
Balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability remains a pressing challenge for Canada, particularly in the face of rapid technological advancement, global integration and increasing geopolitical uncertainty. This study analyses the effects of economic growth, foreign direct investment, ICT development, trade openness, fiscal decentralization and geopolitical risk on Canada's CO2 emissions from 1980 to 2022. Using the ARDL bounds test and Toda-Yamamoto causality method, the results confirm that economic growth and other macroeconomic and institutional factors significantly shape emission trends. FDI, trade openness, ICT development,...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 74(5) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1518
In order to tackle climate change and global warming, policymakers all around the globe have stressed fostering investment in green initiatives and projects. Particularly in top polluted economies, the importance of green investment has recently increased manifold. Thus, researchers have focused on finding the determinants of green investment. This analysis aims to scrutinize the nexus between digital government, digital financial inclusion and green investment in top polluted economies by employing two-stage least squares (2SLS), generalized method of moments (GMM) and smoothed instrumental quantile regression (SIVQR) methods. In addition to analysing...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 74(5) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1511
This study examines the impact of natural resource dependence, political stability and the operational behaviour of multinational corporations (MNCs) on CO2 emissions in the G7 region from 1996 to 2021. Due to the non-normal distribution of the data, a quantile regression approach is employed to assess how these factors influence CO2 emissions across different emission levels. The results indicate that economic growth, natural resource reliance and political stability contribute to higher CO2 emissions, whereas MNCs’ operational behaviour and renewable energy use significantly reduce emissions. Robustness checks using Driscoll-Kraay standard...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 74(5) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1506
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in ASEAN play a significant role in ASEAN GDP, but their access to financial services or fintech has been relatively low. In this context, the emergence of companies offering fintech services or technology-enabled financial services, has been welcomed to access financial services that would otherwise be difficult to obtain from formal financial institutions during the pandemic. Our research focusses on five Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, to answer the following questions. First, what is the impact of the usage...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 74(5) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1509
This research investigates the effects of export diversification (henceforth, EXD) on energy mix diversification for 26 European Union (EU) countries. To achieve this aim, we employ the quantile regression model and GMM estimator for 1995-2020. The primary objective of this study is to examine the complexity of these two crucial factors. At lower levels of diversification, EXD has a negative impact on energy mix diversification; however, this effect becomes positive at higher levels of diversification. This situation underscores the significance of considering this factor when formulating energy policies. Specifically, exploring strategies to increase...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(4) Special issue:782-812 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1543
Economic policies in different regions in China vary greatly. This study examines the impact of Chinese provincial economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on firms' digital transformation using panel data of A-share listed Chinese firms over the 2007-2021 period using a high-dimensional fixed effects model. Notably, we use provincial-level EPU data to explore this impact and explore the moderating effect of leadership characteristics. Results reveal a U-shaped relationship between provincial EPU and firms' digital transformation. We also find that leaders' average age and gender influence the effect of EPU on digital transformation. The findings highlight...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(4) Special issue:751-781 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1516
This study examines the interconnectedness between climate-related risks and five major stock markets in Europe, which aims to become the first continent with a net-zero emission balance, using daily data from 16 April 2013 to 29 December 2023. We employ two methodologies: quantile connectedness to investigate the impact of climate risks on stock market volatility in different market circumstances and quantile time-frequency connectedness to examine the short-term and long-term spillover effects. Our results indicate that transition and physical risks have asymmetric effects on market indices, which are particularly pronounced during crisis periods....
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(4) Special issue:720-750 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1515
This study examines the impact of women's income, employment, education, health and household characteristics on energy poverty in Turkey. The research utilizes logit and probit regression methods to analyse household data comprehensively, providing a detailed understanding of the factors influencing energy poverty. According to the results, women with any income - particularly those with above-average income - significantly reduce household energy poverty. While the impact of women's employment type on energy poverty is mixed, paid employment strongly reduces it. Higher levels of women's education decrease the likelihood of energy poverty. Women's...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(4) Special issue:695-719 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1512
Climate change is one of the most disturbing issues for people all around the globe. Green growth has become the most viable solution for achieving economic goals without damaging environmental quality. Consequently, our main interest in this analysis is to examine how energy security risk and financial stability affect green growth in top carbon emitter economies. The CS-ARDL model is our selected estimation technique for examining the relationship between energy security risk, financial stability and green growth. The long-run estimates reveal that higher energy security risk lowers green growth. In contrast, financial stability, technology and human...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(4) Special issue:665-694 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1537
This study examines the environmental impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) in E7 and G7 countries from 2005 to 2020 using the ecological footprint as a comprehensive indicator. Employing both linear and nonlinear dynamic panel models, the findings reveal that the environmental effects of FDI depend on the stringency and type of environmental regulation. In E7 countries, FDI tends to worsen environmental degradation under weak regulatory frameworks, providing partial support for the pollution haven hypothesis (PHV). In contrast, in G7 countries, FDI contributes to environmental improvement when market-based and technology-oriented policies surpass...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(4) Special issue:633-664 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1513
This study aims to examine the role of green enterprises and their corporate activities in circular economy practices, particularly in the context of developing economies. The modern world is facing enormous environmental concerns, e.g., climate change and pollution, and corporate activities that degrade the environment are primarily responsible for these concerns. Therefore, green entrepreneurship has the potential to reverse the trend and create an eco-friendly environment through circular economy activities. To further strengthen this perspective, the present study proposes a framework for AI-driven environmental policies that can support...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(4) Special issue:605-632 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1519
Corporate greenwashing is increasingly posing a severe threat to effective implementation and evaluation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Apart from regulatory pressure, active participation of the public in environmental governance is essential in this regard. Through a theoretical and empirical lens, this study systematically examines the impact of public environmental attention (PEA) on corporate greenwashing and its underlying mechanism in the Chinese context. The data from A-share firms and the Baidu search index for prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2020 are gathered and analysed using 2SLS and various robustness tests....
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(4) Special issue:574-604 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1507
Artificial intelligence (AI) significantly enhances agricultural production by optimizing inputs, minimizing waste and improving management practices. However, the capability of AI to foster sustainable agriculture remains under scrutiny. This study investigates the impact of AI on the relationship between agriculture and biodiversity loss across 132 countries from 2013 to 2021. Employing a negative binomial (NB) regression model, our findings reveal that traditional agricultural practices contribute to an increase in the number of threatened species. Conversely, integrating AI in smart farming practices appears to mitigate biodiversity loss. Additionally,...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(3):560-573
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(3):536-559 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1508
There is a growing recognition of the importance of sustainable development. Political economy factors and natural resources are considered important sources of economic prosperity. These are the fundamental primary resources utilized in the production process, which subsequently drives economic activities and results in sustained growth. Nevertheless, resource-rich countries often experience sustainability challenges. This study examines the impact of mineral resource rents on sustainable development in selected developed countries from a political economy perspective. Moreover, we include renewable energy deployment and fiscal decentralization as...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(3):515-535 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1504
Tackling energy poverty contributes to attaining Sustainable Development Goal 7, which seeks to provide universal access to cheap, dependable, eco-friendly energy by 2030. The present study examines drivers of energy poverty in South Africa using data from Q1 1997 to Q4 2021 to explore the association. The study employs nonlinear ARDL (NARDL), revealing that democracy and financial development exhibit significant positive long-run effects on energy poverty, while the short-run impacts demonstrate mixed asymmetries, with democracy showing a weaker negative effect. Economic growth and women's political representation reduce energy poverty in the long...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(3):490-514 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1505
This study investigates the impact of economic globalization, geopolitical risk and natural resources on carbon emissions (CO2) in Turkey, while controlling for economic development and renewable energy. The study uses annual data from 1970 to 2019 and employs a quantile-on-quantile-based regularized least squares (QQKRLS) approach. The findings confirm a weak positive association between economic globalization and CO2 emissions at low and high quantiles, while this association becomes strong at quantiles from 0.40 to 0.65 of both variables. The study also confirms an overall positive association between geopolitical risk and...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(3):464-489 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1496
The digital economy is unquestionably a globally recognized priority among countries, yet comprehensive scholarly discussions on the specific determinants driving its growth remain relatively limited. To fill this gap, the present study pioneers an investigation into how research and development, natural resources and economic policy uncertainty influence the digital economy in the United States of America (USA), using data from 1996Q1 to 2020Q4. Given the nonlinear and non-normal distribution of the data, the study employs a series of quantile-based approaches, particularly the wavelet quantile-on-quantile regression (WQQR). The results of the WQQR...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(3):436-463 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1495
This study is the first to explore the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on multidimensional financial development. Using data from 22 countries over 20 years (2002-2021) and employing fixed effects regression and two-step dynamic system GMM estimators, the results reveal a significant negative impact of EPU on financial development. This adverse effect spans both key dimensions: financial institution development and financial market development. The analysis further highlights how EPU hampers key dimensions of financial institutions' and markets' performance - depth, access and efficiency. Importantly, the study highlights the positive moderating...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(3):418-435 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1494
The current global landscape is experiencing numerous geopolitical shifts and security threats that directly affect human security and economic stability. The present study originates from this observation and aims to explore the interconnectedness between development and individual security, the significance of public spending and its role in strengthening human security dimensions, and the efficiency of public spending in improving human security indicators. The study utilizes data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure spending efficiency in 44 countries regarding human security indicators. The analysis, assuming variable returns to scale, reveals...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(3):383-417 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1491
In a system of production and consumption, sustainable supply chain management plays a crucial role in overseeing and curbing excessive waste. This research introduces two interconnected supply chains dedicated to waste elimination within the production and consumption processes. The study integrates the tenets of the circular economy (CE) explicitly emphasizing the 3R concepts, which are Reduce, Restore and Recycle. Within this framework, the initial product in the primary chain follows degradation and transforms into raw material for the production system of the secondary chain (secondary production facilities). When transporting used products to...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1490
This study analyses the impact of inflation targeting on the external debt of middle-income countries using the propensity score matching (PSM) method. The results indicate that the adoption of inflation targeting is associated with a significant decrease in external debt, with an average reduction estimated at approximately 15.16 percentage points. This reduction reflects the enhanced credibility of monetary policy, which lowers the risk of default on public debt. These findings suggest that inflation targeting can be a useful tool for managing external debt and reducing fiscal pressures on public finances, but its effectiveness depends on its integration...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1489
We develop a theoretical framework to characterize the relationship between democracy and energy use on a global scale. We utilize the generalized method of moments (GMM) model to control for endogeneity on a balanced, global panel dataset encompassing 61 countries across six geographic regions. Contrary to conventional understanding that democracies may have a positive association with energy use, our findings reveal that democracy has a significant negative association with energy use. We conclude that democracies prioritize sustainability globally as energy use declines. These novel results are justified because democracies can often foster a culture...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1493
This study examines the link between cultural patterns and fiscal policy in 29 EU/EFTA countries. Using Ward’s clustering on Hofstede’s dimensions, five groups were formed. Results confirm that cultural clusters share similar tax and expenditure structures. Regression analysis shows that a 1% increase in individualism raises tax revenues by 0.686% and spending by 0.655% (social +0.740%, human capital +0.364%, classical +0.375%, economic +0.340%). A 1% rise in long-term orientation increases indirect tax shares by 0.717% and income taxes by 0.340%. Uncertainty avoidance (+1%) correlates with higher tax revenues (+0.164%) and indirect taxes...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1502
A recent focus on the socioeconomic impacts of military expenditures has led to a resurgence of interest in research and development activities in this domain. A comprehensive review of extant academic studies reveals a conspicuous absence of research examining the augmented Solow growth model, encompassing capital formation, labour force, military expenditures and economic growth for Turkey. Consequently, this study aims to investigate the impact of capital formation, labour force and military expenditures on economic growth in Turkey from 1991 to 2022. To this end, the study employs the residual augmented least square (RALS) approach. The coefficients...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1501
This study explores the dynamic nexus between economic growth and sustainable development for 92 countries across high, upper-middle, lower-middle and low-income groups. We validate the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis from a novel perspective. We employ a novel technique of Narayan et al. (2016) through simple cross-correlation estimates and a panel causality technique. The analysis covers data from 1990 to 2022 using annual data. Our findings show that the EKC hypothesis is supported for five out of 92 (5%) countries and that income growth will increase sustainable development for 50 (54%) countries. Notably, the analysis reveals...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1499
Poverty continues to be one of the major issues in Turkey, as in many other countries, with a large portion of the population - especially in rural areas - living below the poverty line. Those living in poverty have limited access to key public services such as education, healthcare and housing, which consequently exacerbates social and economic inequalities within society. The gap between wealthy and impoverished groups within society is continually expanding, primarily due to institutional factors that perpetuate this inequality. Drawing on data from 2009 to 2019, this study offers an empirical analysis of the role of institutions in shaping poverty...
