Convergence analysis of ecological footprint at different time scales: Evidence from Southern Common Market countries

Abstract

This study investigates the convergence in ecological footprint per capita across Southern Common Market countries over the period 1961–2016 within the framework of the environmental convergence hypothesis. However, unlike the existing literature, which mainly tests the convergence for the overall period, this study follows a different path. First, the time series is decomposed into different frequencies using the discrete wavelet transform method. Then, using the Fourier Augmented Dickey-Fuller and Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root tests, convergence in ecological footprint per capita is tested for different time scales; short-run, medium-run, and finally long-run. The results indicate that countries show different convergence tendencies at different time scales. While the results support the convergence hypothesis for all countries in the short-run, the convergence hypothesis holds for only four and three of the five countries in the medium and long-run, respectively. Besides, the results show that the convergence hypothesis holds for only Uruguay for the whole period.