Exploring the Role of Mineral Resources, Digital Economy and Governance on Sustainable Economic Development: Novel Evidence from Emerging Economies of the Global South

In a contest to attain equitable economic performance, emerging economies of the Global South are rapidly strengthening their institutional framework and improving investment in the green energy sector and digitization. Also, these economies are extracting mineral resources to encourage development but still lagging in the context of an equitable growth race, which creates uncertainty among policymakers. Therefore, it is crucial to analyse the influence of mineral resources, digital economy and governance on the economic development of the emerging economies of the Global South from 1996 to 2022. In addition, the crucial role of green energy and foreign direct investment in economic growth are analysed. We use a second-generation stationarity test and a series of cointegration tests to confirm the stationarity of the variables and the stability of long-run association between them. Due to the issue of non-normality, the novel method of moments quantile regression offers robust nuances while accounting for the endogeneity issue. The outcomes indicate that mineral resources are adversely associated with sustainable economic development in the region. However, the digital economy, green energy and foreign direct investment drive sustainable growth in emerging economies in the Global South. On the other hand, institutional factors demonstrate mixed influences on sustainable economic development, where control of corruption and governance efficiency significantly lead to sustainable economic growth, while regulatory quality harms development. The study recommends strengthening the institutions, further investment in digitization initiatives, research and development and sustainable use of mineral resources to attain sustainable growth.