The inverted U-shape relationship between education and environmental degradation: case of seven ASEAN Countries

Abstract

The empirical evidence on the impact of education on environmental degradation is not clear, with some studies find that education reduces environmental degradation, while others find the opposite direction. Unlike previous studies, this paper suggests that environmental degradation can be expressed as a quadratic function of educational level to investigate the existence of an inverted U-shape. The inverted U-shape means that at the beginning, increasing educational level deteriorates the environmental quality, and at a certain level, the rise of the educational level improves environmental quality. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of the existence of an inverted U-shape relationship between education and environmental degradation. This study employs panel data regression from seven ASEAN countries from 2011 to 2017. this study sets an equation model with two main variables, i.e., education level and square term of education level. The main results show that the education variable is statistically significant reducing the environmental quality. In contrast, the fair term of education level variable is statistically significant in improving environmental quality. In conclusion, this study confirms the existence of an inverted U-shape relationship between education and environmental degradation. The policy implications are also discussed based on the findings.