Catalyzing digital and environmental transformations by institutions in a diverse socio-economic world

Bibliographic Data

ID6460431
AuthorsRamona Țigănașu (0000-0002-5921-7023), Alexandru Bănică (0000-0001-7781-342X), Pui-Hang Wong (0000-0001-6818-983X)
Year2025
Volume193
Pages107052-107052
Publication date2025-05-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-750X • E-ISSN: 1873-5991
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107052
OpenAlexW4410359744
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited90

In a world that urgently needs to tackle the environmental crisis, many policymakers claimed that digitalization and smart technologies have the potential to catalyze green evolution. Given that there is little discussion on the readiness of a country to unlock the opportunity of green transformation via digitalization, we propose to put into question how this aspect is reflected within a sample of heterogeneous nations. The study seeks to spot the preconditions of this widespread concern related to digital and environmental advancements and to explore how institutional and economic features moderate them. To test if, on a broad scale, the dynamics of digital and environmental facets are robustly anchored in the institutional architecture of different categories of states and if, at the global level, their effects and divides evolve under the direct influence of socio-economic circumstances, we constructed a large macro panel data (1996–2021) on over 160 countries, integrating various statistics. Results from our econometric models suggest that the investigated countries are in diverse stages of digital and environmental transitions, with strong asymmetries as regards the Internet access, greenhouse gas emissions per capita, black carbon emissions, recycling, and state capacity. The findings also illustrate that the development is rather tied to digitalization and the human capital is a prerequisite of digitalization. However, a strong state capacity is required to implement relevant policies to expedite digitalization and green transformations

Business · Economic system · Economics · Natural resource economics · Political science · Climate Change Policy and Economics · Economic Growth and Development · Energy, Environment, Economic Growth

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Open DOIOpen Access