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Environmental Performance in Countries Worldwide: Determinant Factors and Multivariate Analysis

Author

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  • Isabel Gallego-Alvarez

    (Department of Business Administration, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, Edificio FES, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain)

  • Mª Purificación Vicente-Galindo

    (Department of Statistics, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, Alfonso X el Sabio S/N, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain)

  • Mª Purificación Galindo-Villardón

    (Department of Statistics, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, Alfonso X el Sabio S/N, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain)

  • Miguel Rodríguez-Rosa

    (Department of Statistics, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, Alfonso X el Sabio S/N, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the environmental performance of countries and the variables that can influence it. At the same time, we performed a multivariate analysis using the HJ-biplot, an exploratory method that looks for hidden patterns in the data, obtained from the usual singular value decomposition (SVD) of the data matrix, to contextualize the countries grouped by geographical areas and the variables relating to environmental indicators included in the environmental performance index. The sample used comprises 149 countries of different geographic areas. The findings obtained from the empirical analysis emphasize that socioeconomic factors, such as economic wealth and education, as well as institutional factors represented by the style of public administration, in particular control of corruption, are determinant factors of environmental performance in the countries analyzed. In contrast, no effect on environmental performance was found for factors relating to the internal characteristics of a country or political factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Gallego-Alvarez & Mª Purificación Vicente-Galindo & Mª Purificación Galindo-Villardón & Miguel Rodríguez-Rosa, 2014. "Environmental Performance in Countries Worldwide: Determinant Factors and Multivariate Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-26, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:11:p:7807-7832:d:42031
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    16. Amaryllis Mavragani & Ioannis E. Nikolaou & Konstantinos P. Tsagarakis, 2016. "Open Economy, Institutional Quality, and Environmental Performance: A Macroeconomic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-13, June.
    17. Teodor Hada & Nicoleta Bărbuţă-Mişu & Teodora Maria Avram, 2019. "Theoretical and Practical Approaches to Environmental Performance," Risk in Contemporary Economy, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, pages 145-156.
    18. Răzvan Hoinaru & Daniel Buda & Sorin Nicolae Borlea & Viorela Ligia Văidean & Monica Violeta Achim, 2020. "The Impact of Corruption and Shadow Economy on the Economic and Sustainable Development. Do They “Sand the Wheels” or “Grease the Wheels”?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-27, January.
    19. Botetzagias, Iosif & Tsagkari, Marouko & Malesios, Chrisovaladis, 2018. "Is the ‘Troika’ Bad for the Environment? An Analysis of EU Countries' Environmental Performance in Times of Economic Downturn and Austerity Memoranda," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 34-51.
    20. Armand Kasztelan & Anna Nowak, 2020. "Construction and Empirical Verification of the Agri-Environmental Index (AEI) as a Tool for Assessing the Green Performance of Agriculture," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    21. Bing Wang & Tianchi Chen, 2022. "Social Progress beyond GDP: A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of GDP and Twelve Alternative Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-18, May.
    22. Zdeněk Opršal & Jaromír Harmáček, 2019. "Is Foreign Aid Responsive to Environmental Needs and Performance of Developing Countries? Case Study of the Czech Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, January.
    23. Sue Ling Lai & Du-Nin Chen, 2020. "A Research on the Relationship between Environmental Sustainability Management and Human Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-20, October.

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