Multidimensional Governance and Sustainable Development in <scp>E7</scp> Economies: A Quantile‐Based Comparative Framework

ABSTRACT Achieving sustainable development in emerging economies depends critically on governance systems that shape policy implementation, institutional accountability, and development stability. Yet evidence remains limited on whether governance reforms generate uniform sustainability gains across different levels of development performance. This study examines the heterogeneous effects of economic, political, institutional, and general governance on sustainable development in the E7 economies (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey) over 2000–2022. Using the Method of Moments Quantile Regression framework, supported by second‐generation panel diagnostics to accommodate cross‐sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity, the results reveal strong quantile‐dependent behaviour in the governance–sustainability nexus. Economic governance exhibits consistently positive and increasing effects across the sustainable development goals index distribution, indicating robust sustainability dividends from regulatory quality and macroeconomic management. Political governance exerts larger impacts in mid‐ and high‐performing economies, highlighting the role of accountability and civic participation once baseline governance capacity is established. Institutional governance shows weaker and more volatile effects, implying threshold‐driven gains in which rule of law and corruption control matter more after institutional deepening. The study contributes by clarifying how governance pillars operate differently across sustainability‐performance levels, thereby strengthening the evidence base for governance sequencing in large emerging economies. Robustness checks with lag structures, common‐shock controls, and dynamic specifications confirm these patterns, although causal interpretation remains subject to endogeneity concerns. Policy implications are direct: strengthening administrative capacity, political stability, and institutional integrity can accelerate SDG progress, particularly for SDG 16–linked outcomes.