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Measuring the Effect of Economic Growth on Countries’ Environmental Efficiency: A Conditional Directional Distance Function Approach

Author

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  • George E. Halkos

    (University of Thessaly)

  • Shunsuke Managi

    (Kyushu University
    QUT Business School)

Abstract

Using a recently developed probabilistic approach of a conditional directional distance function, we measure the effect of economic growth on countries’ environmental efficiency in carbon dioxide emissions for a sample of 99 countries over the period of 1980–2010. Our approach directly accounts for the exogenous factors influencing countries’ environmental production; therefore, we do not impose the separability condition on the estimated environmental efficiencies. When examining the entire sample as well as the sample of developed countries, our results reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between countries’ GDP per capita and environmental efficiency. However, when examining the relationship for the sample of developing countries, the results reveal an N-shaped form. Moreover, our results show that countries ratifying the Kyoto Protocol tend to have higher efficiency scores, implying that their mitigation activity is less costly.

Suggested Citation

  • George E. Halkos & Shunsuke Managi, 2017. "Measuring the Effect of Economic Growth on Countries’ Environmental Efficiency: A Conditional Directional Distance Function Approach," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(3), pages 753-775, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:68:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10640-016-0046-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-016-0046-y
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    6. Jean Pierre Huiban & Camilla Mastromarco & Antonio Musolesi & Michel Simioni, 2018. "The impact of pollution abatement investments on production technology: a nonparametric approach," SEEDS Working Papers 0918, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Sep 2018.
    7. Rakesh Kumar Jain & Surender Kumar, 2018. "Shadow price of CO2 emissions in Indian thermal power sector," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 20(4), pages 879-902, October.
    8. Cinzia Daraio & Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 2020. "Fast and efficient computation of directional distance estimators," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 288(2), pages 805-835, May.
    9. Ming-Chieh Wang & Chang-Sheng Wang, 2018. "Tourism, the environment, and energy policies," Tourism Economics, , vol. 24(7), pages 821-838, November.
    10. Zeng, Juying & Pagàn-Castaño, Esther & Ribeiro-Navarrete, Samuel, 2022. "Merits of Intercity Innovation Cooperation of Environment-friendly Patents for Environmental Regulation Efficiency," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental efficiency; Carbon dioxide emissions; Conditional directional distance function; Kuznets curve; Nonparametric analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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