Carbon emissions and the trilemma of trade policy, migration policy and health care in the US

Abstract

Although the United States has consistently experienced a recent declining growth in carbon dioxide emissions, the country is currently the largest emitter of CO2 after China and suffers a biocapacity reserve deficit. Against the backdrop of further identifying the determinants of carbon emissions in the United States, this study employed the dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to observing the tripartite impact of trade policy, migration index, and health care on carbon emission over the period 1990: Q1–2018: Q2. By incorporating renewable energy consumption and the real gross domestic product (GDP) to control for unobserved factors, the study found that migration and carbon emissions are positively related in the long and short run. The trade policy is only significant in the short run but with negative linkage with carbon emission. There is no significant evidence of short- or long-term health impact on carbon emission. Also, impacts of both renewable energy consumption and the real GDP are significant in terms of carbon emission. With the series of robustness and diagnostic tests employed, the study provides significant valid results. Additionally, a policy framework toward cutting back CO2 emissions to ensure sustainable development is provided in the study.