IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausecp/v60y2021i4p630-650.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Income inequality and natural gas consumption in China: Do heterogeneous and threshold effects exist?

Author

Listed:
  • Jun Zhao
  • Qingzhe Jiang
  • Kangyin Dong

Abstract

To test whether income inequality affects natural gas consumption in China, this study investigates the causal nexus between income inequality and natural gas consumption based on panel data of China's 30 provinces from 2005 to 2017. Fully considering the potential cross‐sectional dependence and endogeneity issues, the system generalised method of moments (SYS‐GMM) is selected as the benchmark estimation approach. Furthermore, the threshold effect and regional heterogeneity are further analysed. The results indicate that the impact of income inequality on natural gas consumption depends on the level of economic development in China; specifically, a significant inverted U‐shaped relationship is found between income inequality and natural gas consumption. Notably, at the current stage of economic development, income inequality has a significant and negative influence on natural gas consumption. Furthermore, the causality analysis for the three major regions in the country confirms the existence of significant regional differences, revealing that, only for the central region, unidirectional causality runs from natural gas consumption to income inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Jun Zhao & Qingzhe Jiang & Kangyin Dong, 2021. "Income inequality and natural gas consumption in China: Do heterogeneous and threshold effects exist?," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 630-650, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausecp:v:60:y:2021:i:4:p:630-650
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8454.12222
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8454.12222
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8454.12222?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. Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa & Salim, Ruhul & Nielsen, Ingrid, 2016. "Urbanization, openness, emissions, and energy intensity: A study of increasingly urbanized emerging economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 20-28.
    2. Simon Crotti & Tony Cavoli & John K. Wilson, 2010. "The Impact Of Trade And Investment Agreements On Australia'S Inward Fdi Flows," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 259-275, December.
    3. Chai, Jian & Liang, Ting & Lai, Kin Keung & Zhang, Zhe George & Wang, Shouyang, 2018. "The future natural gas consumption in China: Based on the LMDI-STIRPAT-PLSR framework and scenario analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 215-225.
    4. Jordan Shan & Gary Gang Tian, 1998. "Causality Between Exports and Economic Growth: The Empirical Evidence from Shanghai," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 195-202, June.
    5. Zhao, Jun & Jiang, Qingzhe & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2020. "Would environmental regulation improve the greenhouse gas benefits of natural gas use? A Chinese case study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. 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.
    7. Galvin, Ray & Sunikka-Blank, Minna, 2018. "Economic Inequality and Household Energy Consumption in High-income Countries: A Challenge for Social Science Based Energy Research," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 78-88.
    8. Martin Neve & Bertrand Hamaide, 2017. "Environmental Kuznets Curve with Adjusted Net Savings as a Trade-Off Between Environment and Development," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 39-58, March.
    9. Topcu, Mert & Tugcu, Can Tansel, 2020. "The impact of renewable energy consumption on income inequality: Evidence from developed countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1134-1140.
    10. Dong, Xiao-Ying & Hao, Yu, 2018. "Would income inequality affect electricity consumption? Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 215-227.
    11. T. S. Breusch & A. R. Pagan, 1980. "The Lagrange Multiplier Test and its Applications to Model Specification in Econometrics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(1), pages 239-253.
    12. Unknown, 2016. "Energy for Sustainable Development," Conference Proceedings 253270, Guru Arjan Dev Institute of Development Studies (IDSAsr).
    13. Dong, Kangyin & Dong, Xiucheng & Ren, Xiaohang, 2020. "Can expanding natural gas infrastructure mitigate CO2 emissions? Analysis of heterogeneous and mediation effects for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Akira Yakita, 2009. "Technology Choice And Environmental Awareness In A Trade And Environment Context," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 270-279, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jian Zhu & Zifang Li & Hui Wang, 2023. "Internet Development and Urban–Rural Consumption Inequality: Evidence from Chinese Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Xiaomeng Zhao & Kangyin Dong & Jun Zhao & Qingzhe Jiang, 2024. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Paths to sustainable development in China: why green finance and green technology matter?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-26, April.
    3. Wang, Jianda & Dong, Kangyin & Dong, Xiucheng & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2022. "Assessing the digital economy and its carbon-mitigation effects: The case of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    4. Dong, Kangyin & Li, Jiaman & Zhang, Haoran, 2023. "LNG point supply of villages and towns in China: Challenges and countermeasures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    5. Fuzhong Chen & Guohai Jiang & Kangyin Dong, 2022. "How do FDI inflows curvilinearly affect carbon emissions? Threshold effects of energy service availability and cleanliness," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 798-824, December.

    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. Dong, Kangyin & Dou, Yue & Jiang, Qingzhe, 2022. "Income inequality, energy poverty, and energy efficiency: Who cause who and how?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    2. Zhao, Jun & Dong, Kangyin & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2023. "Is income inequality a stumbling block to the global natural gas market?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    3. Jun Zhao & Xiucheng Dong & Kangyin Dong, 2021. "Can agglomeration of producer services reduce urban–rural income inequality? The case of China," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 736-762, December.
    4. Jiang, Hongdian & Dong, Xiucheng & Jiang, Qingzhe & Dong, Kangyin, 2020. "What drives China's natural gas consumption? Analysis of national and regional estimates," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Dong, Kangyin & Jiang, Qingzhe & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Zhao, Jun, 2021. "Does low-carbon energy transition mitigate energy poverty? The case of natural gas for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    6. Zhao, Jun & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2021. "How does financial risk affect global CO2 emissions? The role of technological innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    7. Dong, Kangyin & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Zhao, Jun, 2022. "How do pollution fees affect environmental quality in China?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    8. Dou, Yue & Zhao, Jun & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2021. "Quantifying the impacts of energy inequality on carbon emissions in China: A household-level analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    9. Zhao, Jun & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Dong, Kangyin, 2022. "How does energy poverty eradication promote green growth in China? The role of technological innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    10. Muhammad Shahbaz & Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad & Mantu Kumar Mahalik & Perry Sadorsky, 2018. "How strong is the causal relationship between globalization and energy consumption in developed economies? A country-specific time-series and panel analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(13), pages 1479-1494, March.
    11. 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.
    12. Maliyamu Abudureheman & Qingzhe Jiang & Xiucheng Dong & Cong Dong, 2022. "CO 2 Emissions in China: Does the Energy Rebound Matter?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-25, June.
    13. Zafar, Muhammad Wasif & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Hou, Fujun & Sinha, Avik, 2018. "¬¬¬¬¬¬From Nonrenewable to Renewable Energy and Its Impact on Economic Growth: Silver Line of Research & Development Expenditures in APEC Countries," MPRA Paper 90611, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Dec 2018.
    14. Zahoor Ahmed & Mahmood Ahmad & Husam Rjoub & Olga A. Kalugina & Nazim Hussain, 2022. "Economic growth, renewable energy consumption, and ecological footprint: Exploring the role of environmental regulations and democracy in sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 595-605, August.
    15. Dong, Kangyin & Sun, Renjin & Hochman, Gal & Li, Hui, 2018. "Energy intensity and energy conservation potential in China: A regional comparison perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 782-795.
    16. Cong Khai Dinh & Quang Thanh Ngo & Trung Thanh Nguyen, 2021. "Medium- and High-Tech Export and Renewable Energy Consumption: Non-Linear Evidence from the ASEAN Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, July.
    17. Sharma, Rajesh & Sinha, Avik & Kautish, Pradeep, 2021. "Do economic endeavors complement sustainability goals in the emerging economies of South and Southeast Asia?," MPRA Paper 108163, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2021.
    18. Yu, Zhang & Khan, Syed Abdul Rehman & Ponce, Pablo & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz & Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel Jose, 2022. "Factors affecting carbon emissions in emerging economies in the context of a green recovery: Implications for sustainable development goals," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    19. Iftikhar Yasin & Nawaz Ahmad & M. Aslam Chaudhary, 2020. "Catechizing the Environmental-Impression of Urbanization, Financial Development, and Political Institutions: A Circumstance of Ecological Footprints in 110 Developed and Less-Developed Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 621-649, January.
    20. Apergis, Nicholas & Polemis, Michael & Soursou, Simeoni-Eleni, 2022. "Energy poverty and education: Fresh evidence from a panel of developing countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).

    More about this item

    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:bla:ausecp:v:60:y:2021:i:4:p:630-650. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0004-900X .

    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.