Influence of technical efficiency and globalization on sustainable resources management: Evidence from South Asian countries

Abstract

Sustainable resource management is the link between sustainable prosperity and the survival of the natural world. The social and environmental consequences of excessive resource consumption require sustainable resource management that turns the underlying drivers of material footprint into opportunities to achieve the sustainable development goals. The nexus between resource consumption and environmental degradation have extensively explored. However, little is known about the factors that enhance resource efficiency and sustainable resource management (SRM). Hence, this study investigates the influence of technical efficiency and globalization on trade-adjusted resource consumption (material footprints) in South Asian countries from 1990 to 2019. Initially, it constructs technical efficiency measure using Malmquist Productivity Index and subsequently applied second-generation econometric techniques. The preliminary outcomes of the study affirmed abnormal distribution of data, which motivates us to employ Method of Moments Quantile Regression. The outcomes reveal that technical efficiency significantly reduced the material footprint at lower to higher quantiles, while globalization and economic growth increased the material footprint. Nevertheless, the marginal impact of both variables is substantially varied at lower and higher quantiles. Moreover, the findings do not support the presence of environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in sample countries and offer valuable recommendations.