Aims: This paper aims to analyze the effect of public governance on the spread and mortality of the new corona virus. It focuses on the effects of differences observed in government’s responsiveness on the spread and mortality of this pandemic around the world. Sample: Our study is based on a sample of 129 countries from December, 8th 2019 to May 5th, 2020. Methods: The Ordinary Least Squares method is applied to cross-sectional data. We also proceed by descriptive statistics and scatter analyses to access the effect of public governance on the spread and the mortality of the Covid-19. Results: The results obtained show that government response time favors the speed of spread, level of infection, and mortality related to the Covid-19. The results indicate that countries in which governments have reacted early have lower levels of contamination and deaths than those that reacted late. Finally, our results suggest that the stringency of early government measures is a capital factor explaining the spread and mortality of this virus. Our results are robust to regional specificities, which distinguish relatively more resilient developing countries from developed countries with higher levels of contagion and mortality. Then, we recommend for all categories of countries a greater speed and rigour in government responsiveness in the management of pandemic diseases.

In a context marked by an increase in the adverse effects of climate change in Africa, this paper aims to analyze the effect of the size of the informal sector on vulnerability to climate change in 42 African countries from 1995 to 2017. The results obtained by the Random Effects (RE) method applied to panel data, show that the size of the informal sector increases the vulnerability to climate change (VCC) in African countries. Moreover, the effect of the informal sector on climate change vulnerability is weaker in English-speaking countries compared to French-, Portuguese- and Arabic-speaking countries. Robustness analyses using the Generalized System Moments (GSM) technique confirm the existence of a positive relationship between the size of the informal sector and the vulnerability of African countries to climate change. To this end, we recommend strengthening mechanisms to combat informal economic activities through the promotion of property rights, the fight against corruption and the implementation of climate change adaptation policies. JEL classification: O17; 013; Q53

This article analyses the effect of multilaterals environmental agreements (MEAs), the Ministry of Environment and Environmental Democracy on human development in developing countries. The sample comprises 72 countries and the data cover the period from 1995 to 2017. The analysis is carried out in cross-section and the estimation technique is that of double least squares. The results show that MEAs, the ministry of environment and environmental democracy increase the human development index. The results also show that MEAs reduce child mortality, income inequality, and improve secondary school completion rates. Finally, our results indicate that climate change, level of development and geographical location impact on human development in developing countries. We therefore recommend that these countries promote environmental policy stringency while improving their level of governance.