IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i14p7961-d595649.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Importance of Maritime Transport for Economic Growth in the European Union: A Panel Data Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Alexandra Fratila (Adam)

    (Department of Economics and Economic Policies, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Ioana Andrada Gavril (Moldovan)

    (Department of Economics and Economic Policies, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Sorin Cristian Nita

    (UNESCO Department for Business Administration, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010731 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Andrei Hrebenciuc

    (Department of Economics and Economic Policies, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

Abstract

Maritime transport is one of the main activities of the blue economy, which plays an important role in the EU. In this paper, we aim to assess the impact of maritime transport, related investment, and air pollution on economic growth within 20 countries of the European Union, using eight panel data regression models from 2007 to 2018. Our results confirm that maritime transport, air pollutants (NO x and SO 2 ) from maritime transport, and investment in maritime port infrastructure are indeed positively correlated with economic growth. In other words, an increase of 10% in these factors has generated an associated increase in economic growth rate of around 1.6%, 0.4%, 0.8%, and 0.7% respectively. Alongside the intensity of economic maritime activities, pollution is positively correlated with economic growth, and thus it is recommended that policymakers and other involved stakeholders act to diminish environmental impacts in this sector using green investment in port infrastructure and ecological ships, in accordance with the current European trends and concerns.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandra Fratila (Adam) & Ioana Andrada Gavril (Moldovan) & Sorin Cristian Nita & Andrei Hrebenciuc, 2021. "The Importance of Maritime Transport for Economic Growth in the European Union: A Panel Data Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-23, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7961-:d:595649
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7961/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7961/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brooks,Chris, 2008. "RATS Handbook to Accompany Introductory Econometrics for Finance," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521896955, January.
    2. Bottasso, Anna & Conti, Maurizio & Ferrari, Claudio & Merk, Olaf & Tei, Alessio, 2013. "The impact of port throughput on local employment: Evidence from a panel of European regions," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 32-38.
    3. Lili Song & Jianing Mi, 2016. "Port infrastructure and regional economic growth in China: a Granger causality analysis," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 456-468, May.
    4. Binder, Michael & Hsiao, Cheng & Pesaran, M. Hashem, 2005. "Estimation And Inference In Short Panel Vector Autoregressions With Unit Roots And Cointegration," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 795-837, August.
    5. Clark, Ximena & Dollar, David & Micco, Alejandro, 2004. "Port efficiency, maritime transport costs, and bilateral trade," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 417-450, December.
    6. Cheng Hsiao, 2007. "Panel data analysis—advantages and challenges," TEST: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 16(1), pages 1-22, May.
    7. Lazăr, Dorina & Minea, Alexandru & Purcel, Alexandra-Anca, 2019. "Pollution and economic growth: Evidence from Central and Eastern European countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1121-1131.
    8. Claudio Ferrari & Marco Percoco & Andrea Tedeschi, 2010. "Ports And Local Development: Evidence From Italy," Articles, International Journal of Transport Economics, vol. 37(1).
    9. Vega, Amaya & Feo-Valero, Maria & Espino-Espino, Raquel, 2021. "Understanding maritime transport route choice among Irish exporters: A latent class approach," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Park, Jin Suk & Seo, Young-Joon, 2016. "The impact of seaports on the regional economies in South Korea: Panel evidence from the augmented Solow model," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 107-119.
    11. Riccardo Crescenzi & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2012. "Infrastructure and regional growth in the European Union," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(3), pages 487-513, August.
    12. Ştefan Cristian Gherghina & Mihaela Onofrei & Georgeta Vintilă & Daniel Ştefan Armeanu, 2018. "Empirical Evidence from EU-28 Countries on Resilient Transport Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-34, August.
    13. Ben Jebli, Mehdi & Belloumi, Mounir, 2017. "Investigation of the causal relationships between combustible renewables and waste consumption and CO2 emissions in the case of Tunisian maritime and rail transport," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 820-829.
    14. Daniela Paddeu & Paulus Aditjandra, 2020. "Shaping Urban Freight Systems via a Participatory Approach to Inform Policy-Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, January.
    15. Park, Jin Suk & Seo, Young-Joon & Ha, Min-Ho, 2019. "The role of maritime, land, and air transportation in economic growth: Panel evidence from OECD and non-OECD countries," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    16. T. S. Breusch & A. R. Pagan, 1980. "The Lagrange Multiplier Test and its Applications to Model Specification in Econometrics," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 239-253.
    17. Shan, Jun & Yu, Mingzhu & Lee, Chung-Yee, 2014. "An empirical investigation of the seaport’s economic impact: Evidence from major ports in China," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 41-53.
    18. Saeed Mohamad Taghvaee & Behrouz Omaraee & Vahid Mohamad Taghvaee, 2017. "Maritime Transportation, Environmental Pollution, and Economic Growth in Iran: Using Dynamic Log Linear Model and Granger Causality Approach," Iranian Economic Review (IER), Faculty of Economics,University of Tehran.Tehran,Iran, vol. 21(2), pages 185-210, Spring.
    19. Rafael E. De Hoyos & Vasilis Sarafidis, 2006. "Testing for cross-sectional dependence in panel-data models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 6(4), pages 482-496, December.
    20. Junjie Hong & Zhaofang Chu & Qiang Wang, 2011. "Transport infrastructure and regional economic growth: evidence from China," Transportation, Springer, vol. 38(5), pages 737-752, September.
    21. Bottasso, Anna & Conti, Maurizio & Ferrari, Claudio & Tei, Alessio, 2014. "Ports and regional development: A spatial analysis on a panel of European regions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 44-55.
    22. Bai, Xiwen & Zhang, Xiunian & Li, Kevin X. & Zhou, Yaoming & Yuen, Kum Fai, 2021. "Research topics and trends in the maritime transport: A structural topic model," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 11-24.
    23. Sung-Ho Shin & Oh Kyoung Kwon & Xiao Ruan & Prem Chhetri & Paul Tae-Woo Lee & Shahrooz Shahparvari, 2018. "Analyzing Sustainability Literature in Maritime Studies with Text Mining," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, September.
    24. Song, Lili & van Geenhuizen, Marina, 2014. "Port infrastructure investment and regional economic growth in China: Panel evidence in port regions and provinces," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 173-183.
    25. Eleftherios Sdoukopoulos & Maria Boile & Alkiviadis Tromaras & Nikolaos Anastasiadis, 2019. "Energy Efficiency in European Ports: State-Of-Practice and Insights on the Way Forward," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-25, September.
    26. Cheng Hsiao, 2007. "Rejoinder on: Panel data analysis—advantages and challenges," TEST: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 16(1), pages 56-57, May.
    27. Rashid Khan, Haroon Ur & Siddique, Muhammad & Zaman, Khalid & Yousaf, Sheikh Usman & Shoukry, Alaa Mohamd & Gani, Showkat & Sasmoko, & Khan, Aqeel & Hishan, Sanil S. & Saleem, Hummera, 2018. "The impact of air transportation, railways transportation, and port container traffic on energy demand, customs duty, and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of low-, middle-, and high -income coun," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 18-35.
    28. Saidi, Samir & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Akhtar, Pervaiz, 2018. "The long-run relationships between transport energy consumption, transport infrastructure, and economic growth in MENA countries," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 78-95.
    29. Theo E. Notteboom & Willy Winkelmans, 2001. "Structural changes in logistics: how will port authorities face the challenge?," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 71-89, January.
    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. Guangying Jin & Wei Feng & Qingpu Meng, 2022. "Prediction of Waterway Cargo Transportation Volume to Support Maritime Transportation Systems Based on GA-BP Neural Network Optimization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-24, October.
    2. Rida Waheed, 2023. "Energy Challenges, Green Growth, Blue Indicators, and Sustainable Economic Growth: A Study of Saudi Arabia," Evaluation Review, , vol. 47(6), pages 983-1024, December.
    3. Bushra Aslam & Kanwar Muhammad Javed Iqbal & Nadia Akhtar & Angela Bahauovna Mottaeva & Turutina Tatyana Fedorovna & Sergey Barykin & Muhammad Irfan Khan, 2023. "Coherence Analysis of National Maritime Policy of Pakistan across Shipping Sector Governance Framework in the Context of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-23, May.
    4. Rida Waheed, 2022. "The Significance of Energy Factors, Green Economic Indicators, Blue Economic Aspects towards Carbon Intensity: A Study of Saudi Vision 2030," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-22, June.
    5. W. Matekenya & R. Ncwadi, 2022. "The impact of maritime transport financing on total trade in South Africa," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Kaidi Nõmmela & Kati Kõrbe Kaare, 2022. "Incorporated Maritime Policy Concept: Adopting ESRS Principles to Support Maritime Sector’s Sustainable Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-16, October.
    7. Sarwar, Suleman, 2022. "Impact of energy intensity, green economy and blue economy to achieve sustainable economic growth in GCC countries: Does Saudi Vision 2030 matters to GCC countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 30-46.
    8. Suleman Sarwar & Rida Waheed & Ghazala Aziz & Simona Andreea Apostu, 2022. "The Nexus of Energy, Green Economy, Blue Economy, and Carbon Neutrality Targets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-19, September.
    9. Waheed, Rida & Sarwar, Suleman & Alsaggaf, Majid Ibrahim, 2023. "Relevance of energy, green and blue factors to achieve sustainable economic growth: Empirical study of Saudi Arabia," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).

    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. Ştefan Cristian Gherghina & Mihaela Onofrei & Georgeta Vintilă & Daniel Ştefan Armeanu, 2018. "Empirical Evidence from EU-28 Countries on Resilient Transport Infrastructure Systems and Sustainable Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-34, August.
    2. Zhao, Deng & Zhen-fu, Li & Yu-tao, Zhou & Xiao, Chen & Shan-shan, Liang, 2020. "Measurement and spatial spillover effects of port comprehensive strength: Empirical evidence from China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 288-298.
    3. Hidalgo-Gallego, Soraya & Núñez-Sánchez, Ramón, 2023. "The effect of port activity on urban employment: An analysis for the Spanish functional urban areas," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    4. Baiqing Sun & Ramadhan Kauzen, 2023. "The Impact of Port Infrastructure and Economic Growth in Tanzania: Adopting a Structural Equation Modeling Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440221, January.
    5. Elena Cigu & Daniela Tatiana Agheorghiesei & Anca Florentina Gavriluță (Vatamanu) & Elena Toader, 2018. "Transport Infrastructure Development, Public Performance and Long-Run Economic Growth: A Case Study for the Eu-28 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, December.
    6. Roman Fedorenko & Irina Yakhneeva & Nadezhda Zaychikova & Dmitry Lipinsky, 2021. "Evaluating the Socio-Economic Factors Impacting Foreign Trade Development in Port Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-13, July.
    7. Feiyan Han & Daming Wang & Bo Li, 2019. "Spillover Effects of Ports and Logistics Development on Economic Power: Evidence from the Chinese BTH Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-17, August.
    8. Park, Jin Suk & Seo, Young-Joon, 2016. "The impact of seaports on the regional economies in South Korea: Panel evidence from the augmented Solow model," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 107-119.
    9. Wu, Zhen & Woo, Su-Han & Lai, Po-Lin & Chen, Xiaoyi, 2022. "The economic impact of inland ports on regional development: Evidence from the Yangtze River region," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 80-91.
    10. Ziaul Haque Munim & Hans-Joachim Schramm, 2018. "The impacts of port infrastructure and logistics performance on economic growth: the mediating role of seaborne trade," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-19, December.
    11. Bottasso, Anna & Conti, Maurizio & Ferrari, Claudio & Tei, Alessio, 2014. "Ports and regional development: A spatial analysis on a panel of European regions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 44-55.
    12. W. Matekenya & R. Ncwadi, 2022. "The impact of maritime transport financing on total trade in South Africa," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Saidi, Samir & Mani, Venkatesh & Mefteh, Haifa & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Akhtar, Pervaiz, 2020. "Dynamic linkages between transport, logistics, foreign direct Investment, and economic growth: Empirical evidence from developing countries," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 277-293.
    14. Jiewei Li & Ruihua Zhu, 2022. "The Impact and Spillover Effects of Chinese Ports on Urban Service Industry under De‐maritimization: A Perspective for Port Economic Geography Analysis," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(4), pages 31-59, July.
    15. Ryan H. Murphy & Colin O’Reilly, 2019. "Applying panel vector autoregression to institutions, human capital, and output," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 1633-1652, November.
    16. Özer, Mustafa & Canbay, Şerif & Kırca, Mustafa, 2021. "The impact of container transport on economic growth in Turkey: An ARDL bounds testing approach," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Muhammad Halley Yudhistira & Yusuf Sofiyandi, 2018. "Seaport status, port access, and regional economic development in Indonesia," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 20(4), pages 549-568, December.
    18. Enock Kojo Ayesu & Daniel Sakyi & Alexander Bilson Darku, 2023. "Seaport efficiency, port throughput, and economic growth in Africa," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 25(3), pages 479-498, September.
    19. Bottasso, Anna & Conti, Maurizio & de Sa Porto, Paulo Costacurta & Ferrari, Claudio & Tei, Alessio, 2018. "Port infrastructures and trade: Empirical evidence from Brazil," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 126-139.
    20. Theodore Styliadis & Jason Angelopoulos & Panagiota Leonardou & Petros Pallis, 2022. "Promoting Sustainability through Assessment and Measurement of Port Externalities: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Paths," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-20, July.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7961-:d:595649. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.