IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/feemwp/339126.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is public debt environmentally friendly? The role of EU fiscal rules on environmental quality: An empirical assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Carnazza, Giovanni
  • Renström, Thomas I.
  • Spataro, Luca

Abstract

The EU has embarked on multiple initiatives reflecting its commitment to environmental enhancement and sustainable transitions. Notable among these are the European Green Deal and the NextGenerationEU recovery plan, both pivotal in fostering eco-friendly policies and sustainable practices within the region. Conversely, the fiscal rules within the EU, designed to manage budgetary deficits and debt-to-GDP ratios, may pose challenges to the implementation of fiscal measures targeted at achieving environmental quality objectives. These regulatory constraints potentially curtail the fiscal space available for policies aligned with the environmental goals set forth by the EU. To address this issue, using a panel of 27 European member countries observed annually from 1995 to 2021, we investigate the impact of two different indicators on the overall carbon intensity: on the one hand, the implicit tax rate on energy reduces environmental pollution; on the other hand, an increase in the stringency of the European fiscal framework and/or the debt-to-GDP ratio increase carbon intensity. From a policy point of view, our outcomes stress the importance of shaping national and European regulations to foster more sustainable environmental development.

Suggested Citation

  • Carnazza, Giovanni & Renström, Thomas I. & Spataro, Luca, 2023. "Is public debt environmentally friendly? The role of EU fiscal rules on environmental quality: An empirical assessment," FEEM Working Papers 339126, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:feemwp:339126
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.339126
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/339126/files/NDL2023-026.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.339126?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huart Florence, 2013. "Is Fiscal Policy Procyclical in the Euro Area?," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 73-88, February.
    2. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2007. "A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 265-312.
    3. Reuter, Wolf Heinrich, 2019. "When and why do countries break their national fiscal rules?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 125-141.
    4. Bram Gootjes & Jakob Haan & Richard Jong-A-Pin, 2021. "Do fiscal rules constrain political budget cycles?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 1-30, July.
    5. Bruce Morley, 2012. "Empirical evidence on the effectiveness of environmental taxes," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(18), pages 1817-1820, December.
    6. Renström, Thomas I. & Spataro, Luca & Marsiliani, Laura, 2021. "Can subsidies rather than pollution taxes break the trade-off between economic output and environmental protection?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    7. Cristiana Belu Manescu & Elva Bova & Martijn Hoogeland & Philipp Mohl, 2023. "Do National Fiscal Rules Support Numerical Compliance with EU Fiscal Rules?," European Economy - Discussion Papers 181, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    8. Granger, C. W. J. & Newbold, P., 1974. "Spurious regressions in econometrics," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 111-120, July.
    9. Jeffrey, Cynthia & Perkins, Jon D., 2015. "Reply to Discussion of “The Association between Energy Taxation, Participation in an Emissions Trading System, and the Intensity of Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the European Union”," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 427-434.
    10. Jeffrey, Cynthia & Perkins, Jon D., 2015. "The association between energy taxation, participation in an emissions trading system, and the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 397-417.
    11. Maria Carratù & Bruno Chiarini & Antonella D’Agostino & Elisabetta Marzano & Andrea Regoli, 2019. "Air pollution and public finance: evidence for European countries," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(7), pages 1398-1417, November.
    12. Marsiliani, Laura & Renstrom, Thomas I, 2000. "Time Inconsistency in Environmental Policy: Tax Earmarking as a Commitment Solution," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages 123-138, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giovanni Carnazza & Thomas I. Renström & Luca Spataro, 2023. "Is public debt environmentally friendly? The role of EU fiscal rules on environmental quality: An empirical assessment," Working Papers 2023.26, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    2. repec:zbw:rwirep:0557 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Kangyin Dong & Yalin Han & Yue Dou & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2022. "Moving toward carbon neutrality: Assessing natural gas import security and its impact on CO2 emissions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 751-770, August.
    4. Afonso, António & Huart, Florence & Tovar Jalles, João & Stanek, Piotr, 2022. "Twin deficits revisited: A role for fiscal institutions?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    5. Alvaro Pereira & João Jalles & Martin Andresen, 2012. "Structural change and foreign direct investment: globalization and regional economic integration," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 11(1), pages 35-82, April.
    6. Hongbo Liu & Shuanglu Liang, 2019. "The Nexus between Energy Consumption, Biodiversity, and Economic Growth in Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC): Evidence from Cointegration and Granger Causality Tests," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-15, September.
    7. Dierk Herzer & Holger Strulik & Sebastian Vollmer, 2012. "The long-run determinants of fertility: one century of demographic change 1900–1999," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 357-385, December.
    8. Mouhamadou Sy & Hamidreza Tabarraei, 2010. "Capital inflows and exchange rate in LDCs: The Dutch disease problem revisited," Working Papers halshs-00574955, HAL.
    9. Herzer, Dierk, 2013. "Cross-Country Heterogeneity and the Trade-Income Relationship," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 194-211.
    10. Herzer, Dierk & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2015. "Income inequality and health: Evidence from developed and developing countries," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-56.
    11. Combes, Jean-Louis & Minea, Alexandru & Sow, Moussé, 2017. "Is fiscal policy always counter- (pro-) cyclical? The role of public debt and fiscal rules," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 138-146.
    12. Abrams M.E. Tagem, 2017. "The economics and politics of foreign aid and domestic revenue," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-180, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Andre Gbato, 2017. "Impact of Taxation on Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: New Evidence Based on a New Data Set," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(11), pages 173-193, November.
    14. Aldama, Pierre & Creel, Jérôme, 2022. "Real-time fiscal policy responses in the OECD from 1997 to 2018: Procyclical but sustainable?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    15. Mika, Alina & Zumer, Tina, 2017. "Indebtedness in the EU: a drag or a catalyst for growth?," Working Paper Series 2118, European Central Bank.
    16. Anindya Banerjee & Josep Lluís Carrion-i-Silvestre, 2017. "Testing for Panel Cointegration Using Common Correlated Effects Estimators," Journal of Time Series Analysis, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 610-636, July.
    17. Markus Eberhardt & Andrea Filippo Presbitero, 2013. "This Time They're Different: Heterogeneity;and Nonlinearity in the Relationship;between Debt and Growth," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 92, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    18. Abrams M. E. Tagem, 2023. "The dynamic effects of aid and taxes on government spending," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(6), pages 1656-1687, December.
    19. Markus Eberhardt & Francis Teal, 2011. "Econometrics For Grumblers: A New Look At The Literature On Cross‐Country Growth Empirics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 109-155, February.
    20. Basher, Syed Abul & Masini, Andrea & Aflaki, Sam, 2015. "Time series properties of the renewable energy diffusion process: Implications for energy policy design and assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1680-1692.
    21. Kleemann, Linda & Effenberger, Alexandra, 2010. "Price transmission in the pineapple market: What role for organic fruit?," Kiel Working Papers 1626, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental Economics and Policy; Public Economics; Research Methods/ Statistical Methods;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:feemwp:339126. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feemmit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.