Diverse Effects of Consumer Credit on Household Carbon Emissions at Quantiles: Evidence from Urban China

Liyan Han,Xinkuo Xu

doi:10.3390/su9091563

Abstract

This paper surveys the diverse effects of consumer credit on household carbon emissions (HCEs) based on consumption patterns revealed by urban Chinese survey data. Based on the foundation of existing literature, consumption patterns and influential factors are carefully chosen to build empirical models that apply Heteroscedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimation and quantile regression. The study finds that short-term consumer credit and credit card limits (representing daily consumption) have effects on HCEs at all quantiles, but mortgages (representing long-term consumer credit) only have effects at high quantiles. Consumption categories have distinct effects on HCEs at different quantiles. The effects of mortgages on HCEs occur mainly through the consumption of housing and facilities as well as through the consumption of medical care and transportation, while the effects of short-term consumer credit and credit card limits on HCEs occur through almost all consumption categories. These findings contribute to knowledge of the determinants of HCEs and provide a theoretical basis for consumer financial mechanisms to cut HCEs.

Highlights

As carbon emissions sourced by the household sector are clearly important to climate change, many scholars have studied the features and determinants of household carbon emissions (HCEs) and proposed mitigation policies
The results shown in Column (1) of Table 3 illustrate that the three variables we choose to represent long-term, short-term and daily consumer credit all have positive effects on HCEs
Column (6) of Table 3 shows that household monthly loan payment has positive effect on HCEs, and Column (7) of Table 3 shows that monthly payments for short-term consumer credit have positive effects on HCEs

Summary

Introduction

As carbon emissions sourced by the household sector are clearly important to climate change, many scholars have studied the features and determinants of household carbon emissions (HCEs) and proposed mitigation policies . Scholars, such as Zha et al [1], Han et al [2] and Perobelli et al [3], have shown that household economic and demographic characteristics have impacts on HCEs. Scholars, such as Zha et al [1], Han et al [2] and Perobelli et al [3], have shown that household economic and demographic characteristics have impacts on HCEs These characteristics are household income, size, location, age, employment, etc., among which income is found to be the key factor. Longhi [7] and Xu et al [8] have studied how consumption patterns

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion