Environmental challenges are as vast as the universe, allowing for numerous studies on their various dimensions. Using 17 data sets from Asia-Pacific countries between 2000 and 2017, this study attempted to investigate the economic factors influencing the ecological footprint of the fishing sector. The primary contribution of this study is to examine the effects of nine economic freedom indicators, as well as other control variables, on the status of fishery resources due to environmental pressure. The findings confirm the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the fishing grounds footprint, indicating that GDP per capita growth has a positive and significant effect, even though its squared form coefficient is negative. Other control variables, including natural resource rents, urbanization, and energy intensity, do not significantly affect the fishing footprint. The different components of economic freedom show different effects, while their cumulative effects in the form of the total economic freedom index positively affect the footprint of fishing and lead to increased extraction from fishing resources. The results show that the government integrity, tax burden, business freedom, and monetary freedom indices increase the fishing footprint. In contrast, indices of trade freedom and investment freedom, by highlighting the adverse effects of fishing on the environment, help countries reduce pressure on their aquatic resources. The findings of this study highlight the importance of examining how various dimensions of economic freedom affect the ability to manage fishery resources effectively.

BackgroundAs per the United Nations Women data, the maternal mortality rate in war-affected countries is critical and more than 800 million people live in war-affected countries (ICRC). External and internal conflicts such as foreign pressure, war and cross-border, civil disorder, terrorism, and civil war, are characteristics of Middle Eastern and African countries. Therefore considering the rapid increment of political risks and internal and external conflicts in Africa and the Middle East during the last decade, and considering warfare as a key contributor to maternal mortality; This paper seeks to evaluate the factors that have caused significant rates of maternal mortality in Middle Eastern and African countries by emphasizing the contributions of a number of political risk aspects as Civil Disorder Index, Terrorism Index, Civil War Index, Foreign Pressures Index, Cross-Border Conflict Index, War Index along with other socio-economic factors.MethodData were collected from forty-six countries during 2011–2016 to explore the regional contributions of political risk aspects to the maternal mortality rate through spatial approaches.ResultsIt was found that GDP per capita, energy intensity, and urbanization strongly impacted maternal mortality. Also, it was observed that natural resource rents and economic growth significantly influenced the reduction of mortality by expanding healthcare services. The urban expansion was found to have elevated maternal mortality. A majority of external and internal conflicts reduced the orientation of production toward healthcare services and thus raised maternal mortality. On the other hand, war and cross-border were found to pose opposite impacts.ConclusionThe findings revealed that political risks arising from terrorism, foreign pressure, and war in the adjacent countries would elevate the rate of mortality in the original country. This implies the spillover impacts of regional conflicts on maternal mortality elevation at the regional scale.JEL Classification Codes: C23; I10; I18; N37:

The present study explores the impacts of regional conflicts on tourism in the Middle East and African countries. The adopted dataset covers 2001-2017 and examines the effects of such conflicts and the resulting risks on the tourism industry for thirty-nine countries. Diagnostic tests confirmed and the spatial Durbin model selected as the estimation model. According to the results, economic growth in the origin country and in neighbouring countries increases domestic tourists in number. The results showed conflicting spillover of domestic and foreign prices in the impacts of relative prices on the arrival of tourists. Rising prices in neighbouring countries lead to more domestic tourists, while higher domestic prices were revealed to be an indicator of developed tourism structures and more tourists. Trade openness was not found to have a significant effect on the arrival of tourists. Also, the results demonstrate that countries with higher levels of conflict experience lower rates of tourist arrival. In addition, according to the results, managing the political risk of countries and reducing conflicts over time cannot significantly improve the arrival of tourists, in the short run. It is observed that political risks for tourists form in a long-term context, and its alteration requires time.

Background: The high maternal mortality rates in African and Middle Eastern countries motivated the present study to explore the causes of such a phenomenon from a broader perspective. Extensive internal and external conflicts, including war and cross-border, foreign pressures, civil war, terrorism, and civil disorder conflicts, are the dominant feature of these countries. Therefore, this paper aims to elicit the influential factors in maternal mortality in the Middle East and Africa, with a special emphasis on the contribution of internal and external conflicts.Methods: This study investigates data from 46 Asian and African countries from 2011 to 2017 on the regional effects of such conflicts on maternal mortality using spatial models. Results: According to the results, the model control variables, except for trade openness, were found to have significant effects on the maternal mortality rate. Economic growth and natural resource rents through the expansion of health services showed significant effects on mortality reduction. In addition, the expansion of urbanization has led to an increase in maternal mortality rates. Also, most internal and external conflicts lead to a decrease in the production orientation towards health services, increasing maternal mortality rates, while war and cross-border have quite opposite effects. Conclusions: The expansion of health services during the emergence of such conflicts reduces the maternal mortality rate. According to the results, conflicts such as war, foreign pressures, and terrorism in neighboring countries lead to increased mortality rates in the country of origin, suggesting that regional conflicts can have spillover effects on the regional extensions of maternal mortality rates.

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