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AbstractThis article investigates the nonlinear relationship between corruption, imported innovation (imports of high technology), and economic growth in developing countries from 2009 to 2018. We used a sample of 38 countries divided into two subsamples. The first covers 21 African countries, and the second covers 17 non‐African countries. The empirical results from the panel smooth transition regression model indicate that there is a threshold effect in the two relationships: corruption–imported innovation and corruption–growth. Specifically, we found that corruption exerts a significant effect only for non‐African countries. However, no significant effect was found for the whole sample and African countries. Furthermore, we found that below certain thresholds, corruption significantly decreases the level of growth for both the whole sample and the two subsamples. Above these thresholds, the effect of corruption becomes positive and significant.

The aim of this paper is to examine the inter-temporal relationship between government revenues and expenditures within a trivariate framework by modeling them together with gross domestic product. Our sample is based on a panel of 6 countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) i.e. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, for the period from 1990 to 2010. We perform an econometric model based on the Toda and Yamamoto procedure. Our empirical results show that government expenditures Granger cause government revenues for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates only, while government revenues Granger cause government expenditures for Saudi Arabia only. We also found a unidirectional causality running from government expenditures to GDP in Bahrain only. Regarding Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, GDP Granger cause government revenues while GDP Granger cause government expenditures for Oman and Qatar.

AbstractThis study examines the relationship between innovation and economic growth. More precisely, it seeks to check whether African countries should choose to innovate locally by investing in research and development (R&D) instead of importing innovative technology. To achieve this goal, we used a sample of 21 African countries from 2009 to 2018. Results of the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model indicate that GDP growth does not respond to local innovation in African countries. However, we found that imported innovation is positively and significantly correlated with GDP growth. Findings also indicate that domestic investment, trade openness, and infrastructure substantially stimulate growth in African countries. Nevertheless, inflation negatively impacts economic growth when innovation is imported.

AbstractUrban sewage sludge (USS) is increasingly being used as an alternative organic amendment in agriculture. Because USS originates mostly from human excreta, partially metabolized pharmaceuticals have also been considered in risk assessment studies after reuse. In this regard, we investigated the cumulative effect of five annual USS applications on the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and their subsequent resistance to toxic metals in two unvegetated soils. Eventually, USS contained bacterial strains resistant to all addressed antibiotics with indices of resistance varying between 0.25 for gentamicin to 38% for ampicillin and azithromycin. Sludge-amended soils showed also the emergence of resistome for all tested antibiotics compared to non-treated controls. In this regard, the increase of sludge dose generally correlated with ARB counts, while soil texture had no influence. On the other hand, the multi-antibiotic resistance (MAR) of 52 isolates selected from USS and different soil treatments was investigated for 10 most prescribed antibiotics. Nine isolates showed significant MAR index (≥ 0.3) and co-resistance to Cd, As and Be as well. However, events including an extreme flash flood and the termination of USS applications significantly disrupted ARB communities in all soil treatments. In any case, this study highlighted the risks of ARB spread in sludge-amended soils and a greater concern with the recent exacerbation of antibiotic overuse following COVID-19 outbreak.