IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/engenv/v36y2025i2p660-690.html

The dynamic relationship between military expenditure, environmental pollution, and economic growth in G7 countries: A wavelet analysis approach

Author

Listed:
  • Cheng-Feng Wu
  • Shian-Chang Huang
  • Tsung-Pao Wu
  • Tsangyao Chang
  • Meng-Chen Lin

Abstract

This study applies wavelet analysis to examine the interplay between treadmill of destruction theory and environmental Kuznets curve theory in G7 countries over the period 1970–2018. The results indicate that, in the short term, co-movement and causality exist between military expenditure and environmental pollution at different frequencies and times. Positive causality runs from military expenditure to environmental pollution in Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Germany in different sub-periods. After adding economic growth as a control variable, positive causality runs from military expenditure to environmental pollution in Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, Canada, and France in different sub-periods. Decision-makers can refer to the empirical results to consider the direction of policy and managerial implications at macroeconomic and microeconomic levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Cheng-Feng Wu & Shian-Chang Huang & Tsung-Pao Wu & Tsangyao Chang & Meng-Chen Lin, 2025. "The dynamic relationship between military expenditure, environmental pollution, and economic growth in G7 countries: A wavelet analysis approach," Energy & Environment, , vol. 36(2), pages 660-690, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:36:y:2025:i:2:p:660-690
    DOI: 10.1177/0958305X231159437
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0958305X231159437
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0958305X231159437?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. Filippidis, Michail & Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Chatziantoniou, Ioannis, 2021. "Energy poverty through the lens of the energy-environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    2. Ramin Khochiani & Younes Nademi, 2020. "Energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and economic growth in the United States, China, and India: A wavelet coherence approach," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(5), pages 886-902, August.
    3. Muhammad Shahbaz & Rashid Sbia & Helmi Hamdi & Ilhan Ozturk, 2014. "Economic growth, electricity consumption, urbanization and environmental degradation relationship in United Arab Emirates," Post-Print halshs-01902764, HAL.
    4. Ajanaku, B.A. & Collins, A.R., 2021. "Economic growth and deforestation in African countries: Is the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis applicable?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    5. Roueff, Francois & von Sachs, Rainer, 2011. "Locally stationary long memory estimation," LIDAM Reprints ISBA 2011009, Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA).
    6. Wen-Cheng Lu, 2018. "The impacts of information and communication technology, energy consumption, financial development, and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in 12 Asian countries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 1351-1365, December.
    7. Muhammad Shafiullah & Vassilios G. Papavassiliou & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2021. "Is There an Extended Education-Based Environmental Kuznets Curve? An Analysis of U.S. States," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(4), pages 795-819, December.
    8. António Rua, 2012. "Money Growth and Inflation in the Euro Area: A Time-Frequency View," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 74(6), pages 875-885, December.
    9. Cheng-Feng Wu & Fangjhy Li & Hsin-Pei Hsueh & Chien-Ming Wang & Meng-Chen Lin & Tsangyao Chang, 2020. "A Dynamic Relationship between Environmental Degradation, Healthcare Expenditure and Economic Growth in Wavelet Analysis: Empirical Evidence from Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, February.
    10. Roueff, François & von Sachs, Rainer, 2011. "Locally stationary long memory estimation," Stochastic Processes and their Applications, Elsevier, vol. 121(4), pages 813-844, April.
    11. K. Warner & M. Hamza & A. Oliver-Smith & F. Renaud & A. Julca, 2010. "Climate change, environmental degradation and migration," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 55(3), pages 689-715, December.
    12. Andrew K. Jorgenson & Brett Clark & Jeffrey Kentor, 2010. "Militarization and the Environment: A Panel Study of Carbon Dioxide Emissions and the Ecological Footprints of Nations, 1970-2000," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 10(1), pages 7-29, February.
    13. Yoshito Funashima, 2018. "Macroeconomic policy coordination between Japanese central and local governments," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1631-1651, June.
    14. Binyam Solomon, 2005. "The demand for Canadian defence expenditures," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 171-189.
    15. Usman Khalid & Olivier Habimana, 2021. "Military Spending and Economic Growth in Turkey: A Wavelet Approach," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(3), pages 362-376, April.
    16. Eric S. Lin & Hamid E. Ali & Yu-Lung Lu, 2015. "Does Military Spending Crowd Out Social Welfare Expenditures? Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 33-48, February.
    17. Ying Zhang & Xiaoxing Liu & Jiaxin Xu & Rui Wang, 2017. "Does military spending promote social welfare? A comparative analysis of the BRICS and G7 countries," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 686-702, November.
    18. Wang, Kai-Hua & Su, Chi-Wei & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona & Umar, Muhammad, 2021. "Whether crude oil dependence and CO2 emissions influence military expenditure in net oil importing countries?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    19. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    20. Wen-Yi Chen & Yai-Wun Liang & Yu-Hui Lin, 2018. "Does Health Spending Crowd out Defense in the United States? Evidence from Wavelet Multiresolution Analysis," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(7), pages 780-793, November.
    21. Acheampong, Alex O., 2018. "Economic growth, CO2 emissions and energy consumption: What causes what and where?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 677-692.
    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. Cheng-Feng Wu & Fangjhy Li & Hsin-Pei Hsueh & Chien-Ming Wang & Meng-Chen Lin & Tsangyao Chang, 2020. "A Dynamic Relationship between Environmental Degradation, Healthcare Expenditure and Economic Growth in Wavelet Analysis: Empirical Evidence from Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Abdelaziz Boukhelkhal, 2022. "Energy use, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Africa: does the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis exist? New evidence from heterogeneous panel under cross-sectional dependence," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(11), pages 13083-13110, November.
    3. Su, Chi-Wei & Khan, Khalid & Tao, Ran & Nicoleta-Claudia, Moldovan, 2019. "Does geopolitical risk strengthen or depress oil prices and financial liquidity? Evidence from Saudi Arabia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    4. Wang, Jianda & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2022. "How does ICT agglomeration affect carbon emissions? The case of Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    5. Jiang, Chun & Chang, Tsangyao & Li, Xiao-Lin, 2015. "Money growth and inflation in China: New evidence from a wavelet analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 249-261.
    6. Saba, Charles Shaaba, 2023. "Nexus between CO2 emissions, renewable energy consumption, militarisation, and economic growth in South Africa: Evidence from using novel dynamic ARDL simulations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 349-365.
    7. Wang, Xiong & Wang, Xiao & Ren, Xiaohang & Wen, Fenghua, 2022. "Can digital financial inclusion affect CO2 emissions of China at the prefecture level? Evidence from a spatial econometric approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    8. Shinhye Chang & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller, 2018. "Causality Between Per Capita Real GDP and Income Inequality in the U.S.: Evidence from a Wavelet Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 269-289, January.
    9. Acheampong, Alex O., 2019. "Modelling for insight: Does financial development improve environmental quality?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 156-179.
    10. Łukasz Nazarko & Eigirdas Žemaitis & Łukasz Krzysztof Wróblewski & Karel Šuhajda & Magdalena Zajączkowska, 2022. "The Impact of Energy Development of the European Union Euro Area Countries on CO 2 Emissions Level," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-12, February.
    11. Jie Zhang & Majed Alharthi & Qaiser Abbas & Weiqing Li & Muhammad Mohsin & Khan Jamal & Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary, 2020. "Reassessing the Environmental Kuznets Curve in Relation to Energy Efficiency and Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-21, October.
    12. Xin Nie & Jianxian Wu & Han Wang & Weijuan Li & Chengdao Huang & Lihua Li, 2022. "Contributing to carbon peak: Estimating the causal impact of eco‐industrial parks on low‐carbon development in China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1578-1593, August.
    13. Furkan Demirtaş & Emine Kaya & Festus Victor Bekun & Mücahit Çitil & Mustafa Torusdağ & Abdulkadir Barut, 2025. "Do institutional quality and military expenditure of G20 countries affect green investments?," Energy & Environment, , vol. 36(6), pages 2639-2664, September.
    14. Loretta Mastroeni & Alessandro Mazzoccoli & Greta Quaresima & Pierluigi Vellucci, 2021. "Wavelet analysis and energy-based measures for oil-food price relationship as a footprint of financialisation effect," Papers 2104.11891, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2022.
    15. Li, Zheng-Zheng & Meng, Qin & Zhang, Linling & Lobont, Oana-Ramona & Shen, Yijuan, 2023. "How do rare earth prices respond to economic and geopolitical factors?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    16. Boubaker Heni & Canarella Giorgio & Gupta Rangan & Miller Stephen M., 2017. "Time-varying persistence of inflation: evidence from a wavelet-based approach," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 21(4), pages 1-18, September.
    17. B. Anand & Sunil Paul & M. Ramachandran, 2014. "Volatility Spillover between Oil and Stock Market Returns," Indian Economic Review, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, vol. 49(1), pages 37-56.
    18. Uzar, Umut & Eyuboglu, Kemal, 2025. "Testing the load capacity curve for deforestation: A critical investigation using novel methods for the United States," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    19. MAÏ ASSAN CHEDI, Maman, 2022. "Does Defence Expenditure Affect Education and Health expenditures in Saharan Africa?," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 10(4), September.
    20. Roudari, Soheil & Omidi, Vahid & Ahmadian-Yazdi, Fazaneh, 2024. "The Dynamics of Fossil Fuels, Cryptocurrencies, and Clean Energy: Dose the Energy market's price volatility create an incentive for cryptocurrency mining?," MPRA Paper 126833, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:sae:engenv:v:36:y:2025:i:2:p:660-690. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.