Cogent Economics & Finance

Environmental and Energy Economics in Emerging Economies: Financial Markets, Policy Uncertainty, and Welfare Measurement

Emerging economies occupy a critical but under-studied position at the intersection of environmental stress and financial market development. This Article Collection examines how policy uncertainty, financial market dynamics, and household welfare are jointly shaped by environmental and energy transitions in the developing world. On one hand, unpredictable regulatory and macroeconomic environments affect capital allocation, asset pricing, and the behavior of energy and environmental markets including the growing role of digital assets as energy-intensive and volatility-sensitive instruments. On the other hand, the welfare consequences of these dynamics for households and communities are rarely measured because the non-market costs of pollution, water insecurity, energy poverty, and coastal hazard exposure remain poorly quantified in most developing country contexts. This Collection bridges these two perspectives by bringing together financial economics and environmental economics in a single, integrated research program. By combining market-level analysis with household-level valuation evidence, the Collection aims to generate a more complete picture of how environmental and energy transitions unfold and at what cost in emerging economies.

Understanding the dual market and welfare dimensions of environmental and energy transitions is vital for policy design in emerging economies. From a financial markets perspective, policy uncertainty around climate commitments, energy regulation, and environmental governance can deter long-term green investment, distort asset pricing, and amplify systemic risks across commodity, equity, and digital asset markets. From a welfare perspective, the same transitions impose costs and benefits on households that are rarely captured in market prices such as the value of clean water and reliable energy, the disutility of pollution and flood risk, and the distributional consequences of environmental pricing reform. Policymakers who attend only to market signals risk designing transitions that are financially fragile or socially inequitable. Conversely, welfare-focused analysis divorced from market dynamics may miss the investment and financing constraints that determine what transitions are feasible. This Collection addresses both gaps simultaneously, generating evidence that connects asset market behavior to household welfare outcomes across the environmental and energy systems of the developing world.

This Article Collection welcomes empirical contributions that advance understanding of environmental and energy economics in emerging markets from both financial and welfare perspectives. We encourage studies employing advanced quantitative methods including time series econometrics, machine learning, discrete choice experiments, contingent valuation, and hedonic pricing. Suitable topics span both dimensions of the Collection. On the financial markets side, these include volatility spillovers between energy commodities and digital assets, the impact of climate and environmental policy uncertainty on green bonds, renewable energy investment, and ESG-oriented asset pricing, and the role of Bitcoin and other digital assets as hedges or destabilizing factors in emerging financial systems. On the welfare and valuation side, suitable topics include willingness-to-pay for water quality, energy reliability, and coastal protection, the welfare costs of pollution and environmental health risks, and the distributional implications of energy and environmental pricing reform. Studies that explicitly bridge these two perspectives by linking market-level policy shocks to household welfare outcomes or embedding non-market valuation within an investment or risk management framework are especially encouraged. We invite original research articles and review papers offering clear policy implications for environmental governance and sustainable finance in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and other developing regions.

Please contact Dr. MK Huffman at [email protected] with any queries about discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Please also be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system, and select the section "Development Economics."

Dr. Seungho Shin is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Lutgert College of Business at Florida Gulf Coast University. His research interests encompass empirical asset pricing, corporate governance, international finance, and the applications of machine learning in financial economics. He is dedicated to advancing empirical frameworks that clarify asset dynamics in emerging markets.

Dr. Johane Dikgang is an Associate Professor of Environmental Economics at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Lutgert College of Business, jointly appointed in the Department of Economics & Finance and The Water School. His research specializes in non-market valuation, water and energy economics, coastal resource management, and environmental policy in Sub-Saharan Africa and the United States, with extensive application of discrete choice experiments, contingent valuation, and hedonic pricing methods. He holds external affiliations as Research Associate at the University of Cape Town and Visiting Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand and has supervised over 36 graduate researchers across Southern African institutions. Dr. Dikgang’s work has appeared in leading journals in environmental, resource, and energy economics, and he has led major research programs funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. federal agencies.

Dr. Shin and Dr. Dikgang declare no conflicts of interest regarding this work.