Validity Of Environmental Kuznets Curve Research Articles

Caring for environment sustainability: how human capital, natural resources and economic growth interact with ecological footprint in Morocco?

PurposeThis study attempts to come in help for Morocco by investigating rigorously the linkage between environmental degradation, measured by ecological footprint (EF), and the gross domestic product growth (EG), the human capital (HC) index and the natural resources (NR) depletion over the period of 1980:Q1 to 2021:Q1. The paper examines the validity of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the Moroccan context.Design/methodology/approachUnlike previous studies, which are based only on the autoregressif dynamic linear (ARDL) model, this paper investigates two recent models: the novel DYNARDL simulation approach and the Kernel-based regularized least squares (KRLS) technics and uses in addition the frequency domain causality (FDC) test.FindingsModels output say a significant and negative association between HC and the EF and a significant and positive interplay between economic growth and environmental quality in the long term. In the short term, findings reveal a significant and negative association between NR and the EF. Based on the FDC test, results conclude about a unidirectional causality from NR to the EF in short-, medium-, and long-term. Moreover, results validate the EKC hypothesis for the Moroccan environment sustainability.Originality/valueIn this study, the researchers use the “ecological footprint” as dependent variable to obtain more accurate and comprehensive assessment of environmental deterioration. Based on time series data investigations, this study is the first paper, which validates the EKC hypothesis and develops important policy implications for Morocco context to achieve sustainable development targets.

Dynamic linkages among energy consumption, urbanization and ecological footprint: empirical evidence from NARDL approach

PurposeThe primary purpose is to investigate the dynamic relationships among urbanization, energy use and environmental pollution in the context of India from 1971 to 2018. The paper also examines the validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in the present Indian context.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag cointegration test (Shin et al., 2014) to investigate the dynamic relationship among the mentioned variables. The Wald test is also used to statistically check the presence of asymmetry. Additionally, the VECM test is applied to examine the causality among the variables.FindingsThis study documents that urbanization in India is good for environment in the long run, whereas energy consumption is bad for the environment. It also finds that positive and negative shocks of energy and urbanization exert asymmetric impacts on ecological footprint. Furthermore, the results could not validate the EKC hypothesis for India.Practical implicationsThe outcome of the study suggests designing an environmental policy which considers the nonlinearity of the investigated relationships and bearing in mind the use of comprehensive indicator like ecological footprint is equally important to address the wide-ranging problem of the environment. Policy reorientation towards the production and consumption of green energy, investment in research and development, and use of efficient technology is very crucial to achieve sustainable outcomes in the long run.Originality/valueIn this study, the researchers use the ‘ecological footprint’ variable to obtain a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of environmental deterioration. The mentioned dynamic relationships are investigated using an improved methodology of the NARDL model, which assumes the asymmetric impact of the explanatory variables on the response variable. The novelty of this study lies in examining the non-linear impact of urbanization and energy on ecological footprint which is inadequately addressed in the context of Indian economy.

Exploring Individual Preferences on Protecting Environment: A Binominal Logistic Regression

Validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis has been tested by several researchers. While macro approaches towards EKC hypothesis are largely discussed in the literature, microeconomic approaches are quite scarce. This paper, in this respect, aims to provide individual insights on the environmental preferences. Using individual priority towards environmental protection rather than economic growth as an environmental indicator, I investigate individual factors affecting this preference. To the best of my knowledge, this study is the first attempt that explains individual environmental preferences by a wide range of individual characteristics exploiting individual observations from more than a hundred countries for the period of 1995-2020. The findings indicate that there is no clear evidence to support EKC hypothesis. However, significant effects of age, gender, education, unemployment, along with further significant explanatory variables are expected to be useful to make appropriate policies for a greener future.

Validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve in the Malaysian Economy: A Fresh Evidence

It is acknowledged that environmental degradation, climate change and the atmosphere's temperature are increasing due to the emission of greenhouse gasses. Therefore, a speedy response is required to lessen the severe effects of greenhouse gases. The present study has analyzed the influence of electric consumption, fiscal development, globalization, and trade openness on carbon emission using the latest dataset and modern econometric techniques. To accomplish the said objectives, the study has employed Johansen cointegration, autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDK), and block exogeneity. The results specify that with the 1% increase in electric consumption, fiscal development, globalization and trade openness, the carbon dioxide emission increases by 0.01%, 0.04%, 0.68%, and 0.25%, respectively. Moreover, the results also indicated that the environmental Kuznets curve is prevailing in the Malaysian economy because an inverted U-shape connection occurs between carbon and GDP2. On the basis of data diagnostics, it is determined that the ARDL model is credible, stable, and reliable. Further, block exogeneity affirms the long-term affiliation among the factors and concludes that all the factors under analysis contribute to the environmental deterioration in the Malaysian economy. Therefore, the government may design an environmental or pollution tax policy to minimize carbon emissions. Green energy should be produced and consumed as it is environmental friendly and helps to reduce temperature and atmospheric pollution.

Current Validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve with Panel Data Methods

Çevresel sorunların küresel ölçekte gündeme gelmesiyle birlikte çevresel sorunların, ekonomik kalkınmadan ve toplumsal faktörlerden bağımsız olarak ele alınamayacağı, bu faktörlerin birbirleriyle ilişkilerinin boyutlarının ve yönünün bir bütün olarak incelenmesi gerekliliği ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu doğrultuda çevre kalitesi ve ekonomik büyüme arasındaki ilişkinin varlığı ve biçimine ilişkin Çevresel Kuznets Eğrisi (ÇKE) hipotezi ortaya konulmuştur. Bu hipotez temelde Çevresel bozulma ile ekonomik büyüme arasında bir ilişkinin olduğunu ve ekonomik büyümenin ilk evresinde çevresel bozulmalar gözlemlenirken, ekonomik büyümenin belirli bir noktaya ulaşmasından sonra çevresel bozulmanın giderek azaldığını ileri sürmektedir.
 G7 ülkeleri (Almanya, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, İngiltere, İtalya, Fransa, Japonya ve Kanada) için Çevresel Kuznets Eğrisi hipotezinin geçerli olup olmadığı doğrusal panel veri yöntemleri ile araştırılması bu çalışmanın amacını oluşturmaktadır. 1981-2018 dönemini kapsayan, kişi başı GSYH, kişi başı CO2 emisyonu ve nüfus artış hızı değişkenleri veri seti olarak ele alınmıştır. İlk olarak, çalışmada kullanılan değişkenlere ait serilerin yatay kesit bağımlılıkları incelenmiş ve durağanlıkları panel birim kök testleri ile analiz edilmiştir. Panelde değişkenler arasında uzun dönemli ilişkinin olup olmadığını test etmek için panel eş bütünleşme testleri uygulanmış ve uzun dönem katsayıların tahmini yapılarak ÇKE geçerliliği sınanmıştır. Yapılan analizler sonucunda G7 ülkelerinde Çevresel Kuznets eğrisinin geçerli olduğu belirlenmiştir. Buna göre kişi başına GSYH, 34453,59$ değerine ulaştığında çevresel bozulmada azalış yönünde eğilimin olacağı saptanmıştır.

Testing environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: considering the impact of Sino-US trade on three main industries in China.

To achieve carbon neutrality and carbon reduction goals, China needs to consider industrial structure and trade. This study aims to test the validity of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis at the industry level in China and study the different impact of Sino-US trade in intermediate goods and trade in final goods on China's environment. To do so, we used the annual data of China's 25 sectors in 1990-2015 and classified 25 sectors into three main industries. Based on the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology framework, we investigated the validity of EKC hypothesis and the driving factors of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The results show that (1) EKC hypothesis is verified for the country and the tertiary industry. (2) Compared with the primary industry and the secondary industry, the economic growth of the tertiary industry brings less GHG emissions. (3) Intermediate goods exported to all sectors in the USA will increase GHG emissions in the country and the three main industries, but final goods exported to consumers in the USA will reduce GHG emissions except the tertiary industry. From our results, the EKC hypothesis is a suitable model for environmental policy in tertiary industry, but it does not apply to the primary industry and the secondary industry. Environmental policy in the primary industry and the secondary industry needs to focus on reducing energy intensity. In the case of exports to the USA, intermediate goods pollute the environment, while final improve the environment. Thus, China needs to increase controls on exports of intermediate goods with low added value and high pollution and gradually shift to the production of environmentally friendly final goods.

Does it take international integration of natural resources to ascend the ladder of environmental quality in the newly industrialized countries?

Among the new revelation in the natural resources-environment and climate change nexus literature is the criticality of ascending the environmental sustainability ladders of the industrialized economies such as the newly industrialized countries (NICs). This study considers the panel of top ten NICs (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Indonesia, and Thailand) by utilizing the novel Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) and other approaches including the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FM-OLS), Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (D-OLS), and the Fixed-effects Ordinary Least Square (FE-OLS) to analyze the related dataset between 1990 and 2018. The combined empirical approaches help to measure the countries’ drive for carbon neutrality. With a startling and unanimous evidence from the employed empirical techniques, natural resource rent is detrimental to the global goal carbon neutrality in the examined panel countries. However, there is a significant relieve that is brought about when globalization moderate the effect of natural resource rent on carbon emission. Another favorable outlook from the study is that economic growth and environmental nexus yields the affirmative validity of environmental Kuznets curve while renewable energy utilization and globalization independently promotes environmental quality in the examined panel countries. Therefore, the result from the study favours a more relaxed border to allow international integration of economic and financial aspects especially for the natural resources-related and environmental-friendly goods and services.

A validity of environmental Kuznets curve under the role of urbanization, financial development index and foreign direct investment in Pakistan

PurposeThis research aims to inspect the existence of the “environmental Kuznets curve” (EKC) in the presence of foreign direct investment (FDI), financial development (FD) and urbanization throughout 1972–2018 for Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachFor time series analysis, Phillips and Perron (PP) and Augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) unit root tests are used to confirm the level of integration. For robustness, Kim and Perron (2009)’s structural break unit root test is employed, which identifies the order of integration in the presence of structural break years. Further, combined cointegration analysis is performed to confirm the existence of a long-run association between underlying variables. Furthermore, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) analysis is employed for the robustness of the cointegration approach.FindingsThe cointegration analysis confirms the existence of a long-run association among variables. The authors find a positive and significant impact of urbanization, FD and foreign development on environmental degradation in the long run. Similarly, only FDI increases environmental degradation in the short run. In addition, the authors find an inverted U-shape relationship between economic growth and environmental quality which, further, confirms the presence of EKC in Pakistan.Originality/valueThis research contributes to applied economics in many ways: the combined effect of urbanization, FD, FDI and economic growth on carbon dioxide (CO2) emission is checked simultaneously. To avoid ambiguity, this study constructs the FD index through the principal component analysis (PCA). Moreover, the role of structural breaks has been considered through the analysis. Novel Bayer-Hanck combined cointegration analysis is employed to detect the existence of long-run relationships among underlying variables.

Accounting for carbon dioxide emission effect of energy use, economic growth, and urbanization in the OPEC member states

AbstractWhile extant studies have largely associated environmental degradation with energy sources and energy consumption, the procedure of oil exploration has not been excluded in the discus of environmental sustainability. On this note, the current study examined the effect of per capita energy consumption and urban population for the 14 Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members from 1980 to 2017. In addition, the validity of Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is investigated by using the State‐of‐the‐art second‐generation panel data techniques. The main finding reveals that at an early stage, economic growth endangers the environment by release of pollutant emissions. However, sustained economic growth ameliorates environmental problems. Therefore, study validates the EKC hypothesis for the case of OPEC. Additionally, both energy use per person and urban population adversely affects environmental sustainability. Besides, the findings infer that economic growth brings about an increase in energy consumption and not the other way round. Thus, energy conservation policies aimed at rationing energy consumption and controlling carbon dioxide emissions would hurt economic growth.

Environmental Kuznets curve in France and Germany: Role of renewable and nonrenewable energy

This paper aims to quantify the relation between real GDP, CO2 emissions, renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption, tourism development and labor force for France and Germany as these two countries are pioneer countries pushing Paris agreement within and outside the European Union. The time spans have been used for the period of 1995–2015 according to data availability. In the presence of cross-sectional dependency, several first and second-generation unit root tests confirm the unit root problem while Pedroni and Westernlund confirm the cointegration. Results reveal an inverted U-shape relation between CO2 emissions and real GDP in long run confirming the validity of environmental Kuznets curve for the group of France and Germany. Results declare that renewable energy significantly reduces carbon emissions while nonrenewable energy consumption adds to carbon emissions. Tourism sector was found helpful in carbon reduction that appeals to attract more tourists for the development of sustainable tourism industry by taking energy conservation and emissions reduction in relevant industries in the full consideration.

Türkiye’de Çevresel Kuznets Eğrisi Hipotezinin Test Edilmesi: Yapısal Kırılmalı Eşbütünleşme Testi ile Hata Düzeltme Modelinden Kanıtlar

Bu çalışmanın temel amacı Türkiye için 1960-2014 döneminde Çevresel Kuznets Eğrisi (EKC) hipotezini, kişi başı karbondioksit miktarı, kişi başı gelir düzeyi ve kişi başı enerji tüketimi değişkenlerini kullanarak analiz etmektir. Bu amaçla, Gregory-Hansen yapısal kırılmalı eş-bütünleşme tekniği kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular, Türkiye’de EKC hipotezinin geçerli olmadığını, değişkenler arasında yapısal kırılmalı eş-bütünleşme ilişkisinin bulunduğunu ve hata düzeltme mekanizmasının çalıştığını göstermektedir. Tahmin edilen Çevresel Kuznets Eğrisinin biçimi N şeklindedir. Ekonomik büyümenin yaşandığı ilk periyotta çevresel kirlilik artmakta ve belirli bir refah seviyesine ulaşınca azalmakta olsa da ilerleyen süreçte çevresel kirlilik artmaktadır. ECM tahminlerine göre ise kişi başı gelir düzeyi ve kişi başı enerji tüketiminden kaynaklanan şokların %81’i bir dönem içinde giderilmekte ve sistem yeniden uzun dönem dengesine gelmektedir

Factors Influencing Carbon Dioxide Emissions in South Asian Economies: An Econometric Analysis

Climate Change and global warming are two concerning issues in the contemporary world. Greenhouse Gas emissions particularly carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are responsible for this climate change. Both natural and human made factors causes excessive CO2 emissions. This paper investigates the relationship between CO2 emissions and its human made causes such as fossil fuel energy consumption, income, agricultural production, population and forest in South Asian countries. Although pooled OLS, fixed effects (FE) and random effects (RE) model have been used in this study, the best fitting FE model shows that the highest effect on CO2 emissions was found for GDP while the lowest on it was for fossil fuel energy consumption. Though the study declared the validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, contribution of forest over CO2 emissions is out of expectation (though statistically insignificant). Therefore, further research is required to re-investigate the influence of forest toward CO2 emissions to justify the REDD+ program in South Asia.

Exploring the nexus between tourism development and environmental quality: Role of Renewable energy consumption and Income

Tourism appears as a catalyst for growth and development; however, recent studies have documented that this sector heavily depends on energy sector and as a consequence, entire tourism industry has been blamed for CO2 emissions. This study aims to investigate the impact of tourism develop, renewable energy and real GDP on CO2 emissions for G20 economies during the period of 1995-2015. In the presence of panel unit root, Pedroni and Kao methods confirm long-run cointegration among variables. FMOLS results show that a 1% increase in tourism development decreases pollution emissions by 0.05% in long run. The results show that the increase in renewable energy consumption reduces pollution emissions. A 1% increases in renewable energy reduces pollution emissions by 0.15% in long run. There was an inverted U-shaped relation between pollution and real GDP in long run confirming the validity of environmental Kuznets curve. Paper concludes that tourism development can be driving force for CO2 emissions reduction.

Threshold Effect of Institutional Quality and the Validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve

Using a threshold estimation technique, this study examines the validity of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) under different institutional quality regimes. A combined set of 99 developed and developing countries over the period from 2008 to 2016 has been chosen to confirm the issue in hand. Adopting panel threshold regression technique by Hansen (1999), the paper finds evidence substantiating the presence of single threshold effect. In general, we find that EKC hypothesis does not hold in the full sample analysis, in which high income fails to bring environmental degradation down. Only in the case of a segregated sample of developed countries, we find that the impact of high income (or income square) on environmental degradation is negative and significant after a certain level of ‘high’ institutional quality has been attained. On the contrary, EKC is found to be invalid, and high income fails to be converted fully to environment-protecting activities in developing countries. Therefore, the effectiveness of income in mitigating environmental issues seems to be dampened by the poor institutional quality in developing countries.

FİNANSAL GELİŞME VE KARBON SALINIMI İLİŞKİSİ: SİSTEM GMM YAKLAŞIMI

The study examines empirically the nexus between financial development and carbon emission by giving particular emphasis the non-linear relations. To this purpose we used data for 52 countries over the period 2001-2014 and estimated the empirical model with system GMM method. The results indicate the validity of environmental Kuznets curve, and the positive significant effect of urban population and electric consumption on the carbon emission. Results indicate that there is U shaped relation between financial development and carbon emission indicating that at higher stages of financial development carbon emission increases by increasing rates. Moreover, the interaction variable between financial development and GDP per capita is positive significant.

Does the Environmental Kuznets Curve Exist in the Chinese Regions?

ABSTRACTThis paper disentangles the existence of Environmental Kuznets Curve across the Chinese regions as autonomous areas. First it makes use of the time-varying method to measure that strand for thirty Chinese regions over the period 1997–2012. The influence of income on CO2 emissions diminishes steadily from Western regions to Middle and Eastern regions. Lastly, we can observe that the validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve is exerted for one region, whilst the N-shaped curve is valid for the majority of the rest of the Chinese regions.

Interrelationships among foreign direct investments, renewable energy, and CO2 emissions for different European country groups: a panel ARDL approach.

This study estimated unbalanced panel data analysis to investigate the relationship among CO2 emissions, GDP, renewable and non-renewable energy utilization, and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in 26 European countries. Moreover, we investigated the role of environmental regulations in validation of the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) in two EU country groups, namely 1-4th and 5th enlargement countries of EU, since their adaptation periods of environmental legislation may indicate differences. Empirical results confirmed the validation of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis and PHH for overall EU countries. However, results differ between country groups in EU. For example, while results confirm the evidence of EKC in 5th enlargement countries, they do not support in 1-4th enlargement countries. Moreover, while environmental regulations do not play an important role in the validity of PHH, they are important factors in the validity of EKC in overall EU countries. Granger causalities showed that economic growth causes energy consumption and FDI inflow. Since renewable energy mitigates the emissions, EU countries should enhance green technology and energy efficiency to ensure sustainable development. What is more, EU countries need to tighten the environmental regulations on FDI inflow. Therefore, our results support the new framework by European Commission on screening the FDI inflows throughout the EU zone.

Factors Affecting C02 Emission in Vietnam: a Panel Data Analysis

The purpose of this study is to investigate the major factors in the process of economic growth that influence the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in Vietnam. An Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was used to evaluate the impact based on Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and Pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) in 1990–2011. The results indicate that the economic growth, energy consumption, financial development and trade openness positively influence the CO2 emissions, whereas foreign direct investment has a negative impact in the short term. Coefficient of joining ASEAN is not statistically significant. The findings of this study also support the validity of EKC and PHH in the Vietnamese economy. Therefore, it is important to use green energy, examine requirements for foreign investment and adopt trade-related measures and policies to increase environmental protection.

Factors Affecting C02 Emission in Vietnam: a Panel Data Analysis

The purpose of this study is to investigate the major factors in the process of economic growth that influence the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in Vietnam. An Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was used to evaluate the impact based on Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and Pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) in 1990–2011. The results indicate that the economic growth, energy consumption, financial development and trade openness positively influence the CO2 emissions, whereas foreign direct investment has a negative impact in the short term. Coefficient of joining ASEAN is not statistically significant. The findings of this study also support the validity of EKC and PHH in the Vietnamese economy. Therefore, it is important to use green energy, examine requirements for foreign investment and adopt trade-related measures and policies to increase environmental protection.

Economic growth and environmental pollution in Myanmar: an analysis of environmental Kuznets curve.

This empirical study examines the short- and long-run relationship between GDP as an economic growth indicator and CO2 emissions as an environmental pollution indicator in Myanmar by using annual time series data over the period of 1970-2014. It also carefully considered other proxies, such as trade openness, financial openness and urbanization, and structural breaks in the country. The fundamental objective of this study is to test the validity of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in the context of Myanmar. The dynamic estimates of the long- and short-term relationship among greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O), GDP, trade intensity, financial openness, and urbanization growth are built through an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The empirical findings indicate that there is positive short- and long-run relationship between CO2 and GDP and thus, no evidence of EKC hypothesis is found for CO2 in Myanmar. Nevertheless, the existence of the EKC is observed for CH4 and N2O. On the other hand, trade and financial openness have inverse relationship with CO2 emissions. These results demonstrate that trade liberalization and financial openness will improve the environment quality in Myanmar in the long run.