Sustainable economic growth via human capital and cleaner energy: evidence from non-parametric panel methods

The association between resource rents and economic growth is one of the key issues that have attracted the attention of both policy-makers and scholars. Several attempts have been made regarding the association, yet the literature holds the gap. The present research intends to explore the connection between natural resource volatility and economic performance in seven (G-7) countries. For the time frame from 1990 to 2020, this study also examines the role of technological innovation (TI), human capital (HCI), and research and development budget for renewable energy (RER&D). Empirical results asserted that the variables under study are cointegrated. Employing a novel non-parametric panel quantile method of moments regression and quantile-on-quantile, the outcomes propose that natural resources volatility significantly affects EP throughout the quantiles. This negative impact is valid for the aggregate panel of countries and cross-sections. Natural resource volatility supports the resource curse hypothesis for G7 economies. On the other hand, HCI and TI are significant economic performance factors. From lower to higher quantiles, the magnitude and significance levels increase. The variable for cleaner energy investment is also positively related to economic performance yet insignificant in the higher quantile. The study recommends channeling natural resource rents to effectively and fully transfer the full potential of natural resources to other real sectors of the economy to fully utilize the benefit from it.