Revisiting Environmental Kuznets Curves for NO2, SO2 and CO: Evidence from OECD Countries
Asma Sghaier,
Zouhayer Mighri
Issue:
Volume 8, Issue 1, February 2023
Pages:
1-11
Received:
18 July 2022
Accepted:
29 August 2022
Published:
27 February 2023
Abstract: This study investigates the position of the environmental Kuznets curve in 25 OECD countries for three pollutants (SO2, NO2 and CO) and analyses the impacts of Environmental Policy Stringency and energy consumption per capita on the environmental quality. Therefore, the originality of this paper lies in the attempt to better understand theoretically and empirically the specificities of the concept related to the environmental Kuznets curve. The study used a dynamic panel model with the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator and an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model with alternative panel estimators. We consider that the results of this paper are very interesting. The found results confirm that: i) firstly, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is well supported for all three major pollutant emissions in OECD. ii) Secondly, the positive effects of energy consumption on various pollutant emissions are confirmed. iii) Finally section analyses the Environmental Policy Stringency negatively effects the pollutant emissions. We consider that the results of this paper are very interesting, The policy instruments will help in realizing a balanced environment. Public authorities are encouraged to implement more and more of the regulatory instruments to protect the environmental quality.
Abstract: This study investigates the position of the environmental Kuznets curve in 25 OECD countries for three pollutants (SO2, NO2 and CO) and analyses the impacts of Environmental Policy Stringency and energy consumption per capita on the environmental quality. Therefore, the originality of this paper lies in the attempt to better understand theoreticall...
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Climate Change and Economic Theory -- A Neo-Ricardian Approach to the Economy of Climate Protection
Issue:
Volume 8, Issue 1, February 2023
Pages:
12-16
Received:
5 April 2023
Accepted:
24 April 2023
Published:
10 May 2023
Abstract: The Stern Review (2007) is the most comprehensive work to date on anthropogenic climate change from an economic perspective. It caused a general uproar because for the first time a renowned economist recommended the rapid implementation of expensive measures against climate change because hesitation would be even more expensive in the future. Nonetheless, the Stern Review moves in the familiar orbit of neoclassical theory, which supplanted classical theory (Smith, Ricardo, Marx) towards the end of the 19th century and is still dominant in academia today. Neoclassicism has made many contributions to environmental economics, but it seems to fail in the face of climate change. Ecological economics, which has been on the rise since the 1980s and works with the concept of entropy borrowed from physics, has not made any progress here either. If one understands environmental problems as disturbances of natural cycles (of water, carbon, nitrogen, etc.), then in dealing with them one will give preference to an economic theory that also regards the economic process as a material cycle. Piero Sraffa's theory, which follows on from the classical theory, is of this kind. It makes it possible to integrate the carbon cycle into an economic model that includes trading in emission rights with the participation of CO2 sinks. The model shows that this trade does not generate extra profits, but cuts the profits of CO2 emitters. It also shows that all CO2-intensive products would have to be much more expensive in a CO2-neutral economy than they are today.
Abstract: The Stern Review (2007) is the most comprehensive work to date on anthropogenic climate change from an economic perspective. It caused a general uproar because for the first time a renowned economist recommended the rapid implementation of expensive measures against climate change because hesitation would be even more expensive in the future. Nonet...
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