Investigating the resource curse: Evidence from MENA and N-11 countries

This research has analyzed how natural resource abundance impacts economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in a sample of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Next Eleven (N-11) countries for the period from 2011 to 2020. Employing Fixed Effects and Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) models, the results obtained suggest that natural resource abundance has a positive effect on economic growth, natural resource abundance leads to a positive impact on CO2 emissions and natural resource abundance with CO2 emissions positively impact economic growth. This study has also showed the importance of technology and environmental regulation in this area. Results have provided important policy implications. Economic policy should incorporate improved utilization of natural resources to achieve higher economic growth. Businesses can get financial gains and lower their costs through corporate social responsibility and sustainability standards. Government authorities should implement environmental regulations and ensure compliance, in order to promote sustainable economies.