IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v24y2022i4d10.1007_s10668-021-01625-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does economic complexity matter for environmental sustainability? Using ecological footprint as an indicator

Author

Listed:
  • Muhammad Zahid Rafique

    (Shandong University)

  • Abdul Majeed Nadeem

    (Government College University)

  • Wanjun Xia

    (Anhui University of Finance and Economics)

  • Majid Ikram

    (Shandong University)

  • Hafiz Muhammad Shoaib

    (Shandong University)

  • Umer Shahzad

    (Anhui University of Finance and Economics)

Abstract

The current decade has witnessed the rise of empirical research in the domain of ecological footprint which has become a major scholarly area among environmental researchers. However, many key factors determining ecological footprint have been inadequately dealt within the existing body of knowledge. The current research aims to explore the association between economic complexity, human capital, renewable energy generation, urbanization, economic growth, export quality, trade and ecological footprint for the top ten economic complex countries. This study applied panel data estimators, for instance, fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and the system-GMM long-run estimators from 1980 to 2017. The long-run estimates reveal that economic complexity, economic growth, export quality, trade and urbanization increase ecological footprint. Human capital and renewable energy generation help to mitigate ecological footprint. We conclude that investment in more renewable energy generation and its consumption and efficient use of human capital will improve economic complexity, export quality, and environment in developed and developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Zahid Rafique & Abdul Majeed Nadeem & Wanjun Xia & Majid Ikram & Hafiz Muhammad Shoaib & Umer Shahzad, 2022. "Does economic complexity matter for environmental sustainability? Using ecological footprint as an indicator," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 4623-4640, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:24:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10668-021-01625-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-021-01625-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-021-01625-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-021-01625-4?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thorvaldur Gylfason, 2001. "Nature, Power and Growth," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 48(5), pages 558-588, November.
    2. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    3. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    4. You, Wanhai & Lv, Zhike, 2018. "Spillover effects of economic globalization on CO2 emissions: A spatial panel approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 248-257.
    5. Olimpia Neagu & Mircea Constantin Teodoru, 2019. "The Relationship between Economic Complexity, Energy Consumption Structure and Greenhouse Gas Emission: Heterogeneous Panel Evidence from the EU Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-29, January.
    6. Sadorsky, Perry, 2009. "Renewable energy consumption and income in emerging economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 4021-4028, October.
    7. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    8. 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.
    9. Ling, Chong Hui & Ahmed, Khalid & Muhamad, Rusnah binti & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2015. "Decomposing the trade-environment nexus for Malaysia: What do the technique, scale, composition and comparative advantage effect indicate?," MPRA Paper 67165, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 09 Oct 2015.
    10. Joakim Westerlund, 2007. "Testing for Error Correction in Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(6), pages 709-748, December.
    11. Rob Dellink & Hyunjeong Hwang & Elisa Lanzi & Jean Chateau, 2017. "International trade consequences of climate change," OECD Trade and Environment Working Papers 2017/1, OECD Publishing.
    12. Ahmed, Zahoor & Asghar, Muhammad Mansoor & Malik, Muhammad Nasir & Nawaz, Kishwar, 2020. "Moving towards a sustainable environment: The dynamic linkage between natural resources, human capital, urbanization, economic growth, and ecological footprint in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    13. Zahoor Ahmed & Muhammad Mansoor Asghar & Muhammad Nasir Malik & Kishwar Nawaz, 2020. "Moving towards a sustainable environment: The dynamic linkage between natural resources, human capital, urbanization, economic growth, and ecological footprint in China," Post-Print hal-03557938, HAL.
    14. Destek, Mehmet & Sinha, Avik, 2020. "Renewable, non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness and ecological footprint: Evidence from organisation for economic Co-operation and development countries," MPRA Paper 104246, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    15. Shahnazi, Rouhollah & Dehghan Shabani, Zahra, 2020. "Do renewable energy production spillovers matter in the EU?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 786-796.
    16. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Vanessa Smith, L. & Yamagata, Takashi, 2013. "Panel unit root tests in the presence of a multifactor error structure," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 175(2), pages 94-115.
    17. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2021. "General diagnostic tests for cross-sectional dependence in panels," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 13-50, January.
    18. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    19. Wang, Zhijian & Ben Jebli, Mehdi & Madaleno, Mara & Doğan, Buhari & Shahzad, Umer, 2021. "Does export product quality and renewable energy induce carbon dioxide emissions: Evidence from leading complex and renewable energy economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 360-370.
    20. Unknown, 2016. "Energy for Sustainable Development," Conference Proceedings 253270, Guru Arjan Dev Institute of Development Studies (IDSAsr).
    21. Sharif Hossain, Md., 2011. "Panel estimation for CO2 emissions, energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness and urbanization of newly industrialized countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 6991-6999.
    22. Copeland, Brian R., 2005. "Policy Endogeneity and the Effects of Trade on the Environment," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 34(1), pages 1-15, April.
    23. Dogan, Eyup & Seker, Fahri, 2016. "The influence of real output, renewable and non-renewable energy, trade and financial development on carbon emissions in the top renewable energy countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1074-1085.
    24. Panagiotis Fotis & Michael Polemis, 2018. "Sustainable development, environmental policy and renewable energy use: A dynamic panel data approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(6), pages 726-740, November.
    25. Dogan, Eyup & Aslan, Alper, 2017. "Exploring the relationship among CO2 emissions, real GDP, energy consumption and tourism in the EU and candidate countries: Evidence from panel models robust to heterogeneity and cross-sectional depen," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 239-245.
    26. Bashir, Muhammad Adnan & Sheng, Bin & Doğan, Buhari & Sarwar, Suleman & Shahzad, Umer, 2020. "Export product diversification and energy efficiency: Empirical evidence from OECD countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 232-243.
    27. Shahzad, Umer & Doğan, Buhari & Sinha, Avik & Fareed, Zeeshan, 2021. "Does Export product diversification help to reduce energy demand: Exploring the contextual evidences from the newly industrialized countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    28. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 1994. "North-South Trade and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(3), pages 755-787.
    29. Bölük, Gülden & Mert, Mehmet, 2014. "Fossil & renewable energy consumption, GHGs (greenhouse gases) and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of EU (European Union) countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 439-446.
    30. Hausmann, Ricardo & Hidalgo, Cesar, 2014. "The Atlas of Economic Complexity: Mapping Paths to Prosperity," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262525429, December.
    31. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Mrabet, Zouhair, 2017. "The impact of economic development and social-political factors on ecological footprint: A panel data analysis for 15 MENA countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 138-154.
    32. Jingqi Sun & Jing Shi & Boyang Shen & Shuqing Li & Yuwei Wang, 2018. "Nexus among Energy Consumption, Economic Growth, Urbanization and Carbon Emissions: Heterogeneous Panel Evidence Considering China’s Regional Differences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-16, July.
    33. Olimpia Neagu, 2020. "Economic Complexity and Ecological Footprint: Evidence from the Most Complex Economies in the World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-18, October.
    34. Thomas Wiedmann & John Barrett, 2010. "A Review of the Ecological Footprint Indicator—Perceptions and Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(6), pages 1-49, June.
    35. Ricardo Hausmann & César Hidalgo, 2011. "The network structure of economic output," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 309-342, December.
    36. Zafar, Muhammad Wasif & Zaidi, Syed Anees Haider & Khan, Naveed R. & Mirza, Faisal Mehmood & Hou, Fujun & Kirmani, Syed Ali Ashiq, 2019. "The impact of natural resources, human capital, and foreign direct investment on the ecological footprint: The case of the United States," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    37. Zallé, Oumarou, 2019. "Natural resources and economic growth in Africa: The role of institutional quality and human capital," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 616-624.
    38. Hailu, Degol & Kipgen, Chinpihoi, 2017. "The Extractives Dependence Index (EDI)," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 251-264.
    39. Destek, Mehmet Akif & Ulucak, Recep & Dogan, Eyüp, 2018. "Analyzing the Environmental Kuznets Curve for the EU countries: The role of ecological footprint," MPRA Paper 106882, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    40. Jing Lan & Makoto Kakinaka & Xianguo Huang, 2012. "Foreign Direct Investment, Human Capital and Environmental Pollution in China," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 51(2), pages 255-275, February.
    41. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    42. Adel Ben Youssef & Sabri Boubaker & Anis Omri, 2020. "Financial development and macroeconomic sustainability: modeling based on a modified environmental Kuznets curve," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 767-785, November.
    43. Çoban, Serap & Topcu, Mert, 2013. "The nexus between financial development and energy consumption in the EU: A dynamic panel data analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 81-88.
    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. Ibrahim, Ridwan Lanre & Al-mulali, Usama & Ozturk, Ilhan & Bello, Ajide Kazeem & Raimi, Lukman, 2022. "On the criticality of renewable energy to sustainable development: Do green financial development, technological innovation, and economic complexity matter for China?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 262-277.
    2. Joof, Foday & Samour, Ahmed & Ali, Mumtaz & Tursoy, Turgut & Haseeb, Mohammad & Hossain, Md. Emran & Kamal, Mustafa, 2023. "Symmetric and asymmetric effects of gold, and oil price on environment: The role of clean energy in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Liu, Xiaoxi & Razzaq, Asif & Shahzad, Mohsin & Irfan, Muhammad, 2022. "Technological changes, financial development and ecological consequences: A comparative study of developed and developing economies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    4. Saud, Shah & Haseeb, Abdul & Zafar, Muhammad Wasif & Li, Huiyun, 2023. "Articulating natural resource abundance, economic complexity, education and environmental sustainability in MENA countries: Evidence from advanced panel estimation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Wang, Feng & Wu, Min & Wang, Jingcao, 2023. "Can increasing economic complexity improve China's green development efficiency?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    6. Liu, Fengyu & Feng, Jue & Zhai, Ge & Razzaq, Asif, 2022. "Influence of fiscal decentralization and renewable energy investment on ecological sustainability in EU: What is the moderating role of institutional governance?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1265-1274.
    7. Chien‐Chiang Lee & Godwin Olasehinde‐Williams, 2024. "Does economic complexity influence environmental performance? Empirical evidence from OECD countries," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 356-382, January.
    8. Muhammad Zahid Rafique & Nicolas Schneider & Umer Shahzad & Malin Song, 2022. "High‐tech industries, financial expansion, and low‐carbon energy deployment along the Belt and Road Initiative," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1779-1795, 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. Cui, Lianbiao & Weng, Shimei & Nadeem, Abdul Majeed & Rafique, Muhammad Zahid & Shahzad, Umer, 2022. "Exploring the role of renewable energy, urbanization and structural change for environmental sustainability: Comparative analysis for practical implications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 215-224.
    2. Olimpia Neagu, 2020. "Economic Complexity and Ecological Footprint: Evidence from the Most Complex Economies in the World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Ahmad, Mahmood & Jiang, Ping & Majeed, Abdul & Umar, Muhammad & Khan, Zeeshan & Muhammad, Sulaman, 2020. "The dynamic impact of natural resources, technological innovations and economic growth on ecological footprint: An advanced panel data estimation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    4. Opoku, Eric Evans Osei & Dogah, Kingsley E. & Aluko, Olufemi Adewale, 2022. "The contribution of human development towards environmental sustainability," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    5. Wu Xiaoman & Abdul Majeed & Dinara G. Vasbieva & Claire Emilienne Wati Yameogo & Nazim Hussain, 2021. "Natural resources abundance, economic globalization, and carbon emissions: Advancing sustainable development agenda," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 1037-1048, September.
    6. Li, Zeyun & Leong, Lin Woon & N Aldoseri, Mahfod Mobarak & Muda, Iskandar & Abu-Rumman, Ayman & Al Shraah, Ata, 2023. "Examining the role of sustainability and natural resources management in improving environmental quality: Evidence from Asian countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Kostakis, Ioannis & Arauzo-Carod, Josep-Maria, 2023. "The key roles of renewable energy and economic growth in disaggregated environmental degradation: Evidence from highly developed, heterogeneous and cross-correlated countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1315-1325.
    8. Ansari, Mohd Arshad, 2022. "Re-visiting the Environmental Kuznets curve for ASEAN: A comparison between ecological footprint and carbon dioxide emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    9. Xie, Bofeng & Rehman, Mubeen Abdur & Zhang, Junyan & Yang, Runze, 2022. "Does the financialization of natural resources lead toward sustainability? An application of advance panel Granger non-causality," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Ulucak, Recep & Danish, & Ozcan, Burcu, 2020. "Relationship between energy consumption and environmental sustainability in OECD countries: The role of natural resources rents," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    11. Emad Kazemzadeh & José Alberto Fuinhas & Matheus Koengkan & Fariba Osmani, 2022. "The Heterogeneous Effect of Economic Complexity and Export Quality on the Ecological Footprint: A Two-Step Club Convergence and Panel Quantile Regression Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-24, September.
    12. Majeed, Abdul & Wang, Lijun & Zhang, Xiaohui & Muniba, & Kirikkaleli, Dervis, 2021. "Modeling the dynamic links among natural resources, economic globalization, disaggregated energy consumption, and environmental quality: Fresh evidence from GCC economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    13. Umer Shahzad & Mohamed Elheddad & Julia Swart & Sudeshna Ghosh & Buhari Dogan, 2023. "The role of biomass energy consumption and economic complexity on environmental sustainability in G7 economies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 781-801, January.
    14. Shahzad, Umer & Madaleno, Mara & Dagar, Vishal & Ghosh, Sudeshna & Doğan, Buhari, 2022. "Exploring the role of export product quality and economic complexity for economic progress of developed economies: Does institutional quality matter?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 40-51.
    15. Pata, Ugur Korkut & Aydin, Mucahit & Haouas, Ilham, 2021. "Are natural resources abundance and human development a solution for environmental pressure? Evidence from top ten countries with the largest ecological footprint," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    16. Malayaranjan Sahoo & Narayan Sethi, 2022. "The dynamic impact of urbanization, structural transformation, and technological innovation on ecological footprint and PM2.5: evidence from newly industrialized countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 4244-4277, March.
    17. Usman, Muhammad & Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel, 2022. "Environmental concern in the era of industrialization: Can financial development, renewable energy and natural resources alleviate some load?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    18. Jian Xue & Zeeshan Rasool & Raima Nazar & Ahmad Imran Khan & Shaukat Hussain Bhatti & Sajid Ali, 2021. "Revisiting Natural Resources—Globalization-Environmental Quality Nexus: Fresh Insights from South Asian Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, April.
    19. Doğan, Buhari & Ghosh, Sudeshna & Hoang, Dung Phuong & Chu, Lan Khanh, 2022. "Are economic complexity and eco-innovation mutually exclusive to control energy demand and environmental quality in E7 and G7 countries?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    20. Guitao Qiao & Dan Yang & Mahmood Ahmad & Zahoor Ahmed, 2022. "Modeling for Insights: Does Fiscal Decentralization Impede Ecological Footprint?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-18, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic complexity; Human capital; Export quality; Ecological footprint; Environmental sustainability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    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:spr:endesu:v:24:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10668-021-01625-4. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.