Examining the effect of geopolitical risks on renewable energy consumption in OECD countries

There are continuous research and practical interest to combine different renewable sources within one Smart Grid network. The paper aims to estimate the influence of key economic and social drivers of renewable energy and Smart Grid promotion in OECD member countries. The random effect of the generalized least squares method was used to estimate the empirical model based on the World Bank, OECD, Heritage Foundation, and World Energy Council datasets for a panel of 36 OECD counties. For the empirical estimation, the dependent variables considered are energy renewable electricity output and energy trilemma index, taken as two proxies for Smart Grid development. The results suggest that an increase in GDP p. c. in national economies by 10,000 USD leads on average to a 3.9% decrease in renewable electricity output during 2001–2015. The richer the society, the less renewable energy sources were used for power generation in a group of OECD countries. The last is also supported by the fact that gross fixed capital formation treated as a percentage value of GDP is negatively correlated with structural changes in renewable energy output. The empirical conclusion is that during the study period, OECD countries were mainly oriented to economic growth, which was achieved by consuming non-renewable energy resources, and limited attention was paid to sustainability and Millennium Development Goals. The paper provides policy recommendations for Smart Grid development and points in the future research within OECD countries.

Acknowledgments
Comments from the Editor and anonymous referees have been gratefully acknowledged. Leonid Melnyk gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (0118U003578). Oleksandra Kubatko gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (0119U100766) and National Research Foundation of Ukraine (2020.01/0135).

Smoking, as one of the main causes, is a negative factor associated with many diseases. The primary objective of the research is to determine the effect of innovation on selected smoking indicators in a sample of countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Four variables enter the analytical processing, such as Global Innovation Index, Population ratio of daily smokers (age 15+), Daily smokers (age 15-24), and Tobacco consumption in grams per capita (age 15+). These variables were included in the research from 2011 to 2018. The simple linear regression – the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model – and correlation analysis – Spearman’s rank correlation – was used for statistical processing. The results show that the effect of innovation on the ratio of daily smokers over the age of 15 to the total population may be considered a highly significant relationship. The effect on the annual tobacco consumption per capita is the second most significant relationship, and the effect on the ratio of daily smokers over 15 and under 24 years to the total population is the least significant compared to the previous two cases. Correlation analysis shows similar outputs. All these relationships may be considered negative. It is possible to talk about the lost innovation potential associated with smoking, primarily in the productive part of the population. A higher level of smoking can be associated with a lower level of innovation. Also, innovation negatively affects the tendency to smoke. Therefore, public policies should promote a healthy lifestyle.

Acknowledgments
This research is funded by the RVO 2020 internal grant scheme of the Tomas Bata University in Zlín titled “Economic quantification of marketing processes aimed at increasing value for the patient in the process of construction of system in order to measure and to manage performance in healthcare facilities in the Czech Republic.”

The intrinsic property of modern economic development is financial deepening in the light of incremental spearheading financial innovation opportunities. The paper deals with the relationship between financial depth, financial innovation, and economic growth among 22 OECD economies over 2007–2018 by applying pooled OLS and fixed effect panel data regression analysis. The purpose of the paper is to empirically test whether the economic growth depends on financial depth, financial innovation, and institutional environment (Worldwide Governance Indicators). The findings shed light on the recent discussion on the pros and cons of financial innovation. The estimation results show that while financial depth is a strong predictor of economic growth across high- and upper-middle-income economies, financial innovation is a slightly weaker predictor. Despite the identified positive impact of financial innovation on economic growth, it is asserted that the negative effect of financial depth may indicate oversaturated financial market in developed countries. Сonsistent with the general notion that the institutional framework promotes the capacity of the financial sector for financial innovations implementation, this paper states that financial depth and financial innovations are better prerequisites of economic growth than institutional development.

Acknowledgment
The paper was funded as a part of the “Relationship between financial depth and economic growth in Ukraine” research project (No. 0121U110766), conducted in the State Institution “Institute for Economics and Forecasting of the NAS of Ukraine”.