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Sustainable development through structural transformation: a pathway to economic, social, and environmental progress

Author

Listed:
  • Lingfu Kong

    (Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics)

  • Emrah Sofuoğlu

    (Kırşehir Ahi Evran University)

  • Balogun Daud Ishola

    (Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin)

  • Shujaat Abbas

    (Ural Federal University
    Lebanese American University
    Middle East University)

  • Qingran Guo

    (Xinjiang University)

  • Khurshid Khudoykulov

    (Tashkent State University of Economics)

Abstract

Over the last several decades, environmental sustainability along with social as well as economic growth has been given key importance due to the pressure it imposes on an economy. Therefore, to achieve these three goals together, the world now advances toward attaining sustainable development agenda signed in 2015. The objective of this study is to scrutinize the impact of structural transformation (STR) on socioeconomic and environmental progress captured by sustainable development (SDI) for a global sample of 122 countries. We consider the period from 2000 to 2019 and employ two-step system GMM methodology to take endogeneity into account which might exist between STR and SDI. In line with the literature of economic growth and STR, we include other variables such as corruption, population growth, government consumption and investment. The results from the two-step system GMM suggest that STR positively affects socioeconomic and environmental progress. We also consider the countries according to World Bank income classifications and K means clustering based on the value of STR. For low, upper middle-income and high-income sample, we find that STR positively affects socioeconomic and environmental progress, while it has no significant impact on such progress for lower middle-income category. Having stable structural transformation benefits the economy, society and environment, while unstable structural transformation is not beneficial. Based on the results, policy directions are suggested for the full sample as well as for the subsamples in order to achieve sustainability in all the sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Lingfu Kong & Emrah Sofuoğlu & Balogun Daud Ishola & Shujaat Abbas & Qingran Guo & Khurshid Khudoykulov, 2024. "Sustainable development through structural transformation: a pathway to economic, social, and environmental progress," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-34, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:ecopln:v:57:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s10644-024-09583-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10644-024-09583-3
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