IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v27y2025i10d10.1007_s10668-024-04713-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamic linkages between financial development, economic growth, urbanization, trade openness, and ecological footprint: an empirical account of ECOWAS countries

Author

Listed:
  • Nazir Muhammad Abdullahi

    (Northwest A&F University
    Kano State Polytechnic)

  • Adamu Ali Ibrahim

    (Bayero University)

  • Qiangqiang Zhang

    (Beijing University of Agriculture, Beijing)

  • Xuexi Huo

    (Northwest A&F University)

Abstract

This study investigates the dynamic linkages between financial development, economic growth, urbanization, trade openness, and a more reliable environmental indicator (ecological footprint) in ten ECOWAS nations from 1980 to 2022. The study applied the Pedroni and Kao cointegration tests to confirm the equilibrium tie-in between the variables. The study used the pool mean group (PMG) method to draw empirical inferences. In addition, the study also employed the ordinary least square (OLS), Fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) methods to confirm the robustness of the PMG estimates. The long-run estimates indicate that financial development, economic growth, and trade openness have a significant positive impact on the ecological footprint, while urbanization affects the ecological footprint negatively. The results of the country analysis reveal that financial development leads to a depletion in the ecological footprint in Sierra Leone, Togo, and Cote d’Ivoire, but it increases in Niger. Furthermore, we discover that economic development is not eco-friendly and increases the ecological footprint in Benin, Ghana, and Nigeria. We offer policy recommendations, discuss limitations, and suggest future research directions for our study.

Suggested Citation

  • Nazir Muhammad Abdullahi & Adamu Ali Ibrahim & Qiangqiang Zhang & Xuexi Huo, 2025. "Dynamic linkages between financial development, economic growth, urbanization, trade openness, and ecological footprint: an empirical account of ECOWAS countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(10), pages 25103-25130, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:10:d:10.1007_s10668-024-04713-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-024-04713-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-024-04713-3
    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/s10668-024-04713-3?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

    for a different version of it.

    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:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:10:d:10.1007_s10668-024-04713-3. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.