Environmental health performance and the nexus between terrorism and the economics of technological innovation

This study employs an instrumental variable fixed effect model with Driscoll-Kraay robust standard errors and System GMM to investigate the relationship between terrorism, environmental health, and technological innovation in Africa. The research explores the moderating impact of environmental health on the terrorism-innovation nexus. The empirical findings demonstrate a significant and negative influence of terrorism fatalities and incidents on environmental health indicators, indicating adverse effects on the well-being of the environment and the vitality of ecosystems. Moreover, the study validates these results by illustrating how the interaction between terrorism and environmental health indicators impedes technological innovation. In nations with lower levels of environmental health indicators, terrorism significantly hampers innovation growth, emphasizing the impact of health risks associated with terrorism on the innovation process. Conversely, in countries with high environmental health indicators, the statistical significance of terrorism’s impact on innovation is not observed. The study’s robustness conforms with the primary findings. The study suggests that policies should prioritize enhancing environmental sustainability and fortifying counter-terrorism measures to facilitate technological innovation for sustainable development in Africa.