Investigating the asymmetric linkages between infrastructure development, green innovation, and consumption-based material footprint: Novel empirical estimations from highly resource-consuming economies

Abstract

The role of a reliable resource consumption measurement is essential for devising a relevant climate policy. The consumption-based material footprint is trade-adjusted domestic resource consumption that presents an accurate picture of the domestic material footprint. Pursuing the same, this study draws asymmetric linkages between infrastructure development, green innovation, and consumption-based material footprint (MF) in the top 11 highly material-consuming countries. Our preliminary findings strictly reject the preposition of data normality and highlight that the observed relationship is quantile-dependent, which may disclose misleading results in previous studies using linear methodologies. In compliance, a novel empirical estimation technique popularized as Method of Moments Quantile Regression is employed that simultaneously deal with non-normality and structural changes in data. The results exhibit that infrastructure development (green innovation) significantly increases (decreases) MF mainly across medium to higher quantiles (medium-higher level of MF). Interestingly, the resource-depleting effect of infrastructure is highest for higher quantiles and lowest for lower quantiles of MF. Economic growth (globalization) increase MF, and their resource-depleting effect is higher (lowest) for lower quantiles and lowest (highest) for higher quantiles. Lastly, population exhibits an inverted-U shape relationship with MF across lower to higher quantiles. These results suggest pertinent policy recommendations.