Impact of Economic-Social Development on Air Quality in the Middle East Countries

Subject Areas : Labor and Demographic Economics

masoumeh motallebi ¹ (M.A in Economics, Tarbiat Modares University)
Reza Najarzade ² (ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT, MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMIC FACULTY, TARBIAT MODARES UNIVERSITY, TEHRAN, IRAN)
Lotfali Agheli ³ (Associate professor of Economics, Economic Research Institute, Tarbiat Modares University)

Received: 2023-05-17 Accepted : 2023-05-17 Published : 2023-05-17

Keywords: O44, JEL Classification: C14, Middle East Region, Q53 Keywords: Socioeconomic Development, Sulfur dioxide Emission, Time-Varying Coefficient-Panel Data Model,

Abstract :

This research mainly aims to investigate the effect of economic-social development on air quality in Middle East countries. For this purpose, the effects of Socio-economic Development indicators and natural resource utilization indicators are examined as one of the main drivers of growth and development in the Middle East on Sulfur dioxide  emission as an indicator  for air  quality. Since air pollution is a stable occurrence over time, the time-varying coefficient panel data model during the time period 2000-2019 is used to examine the impact of variables on Sulfur dioxide emissions. The results show that human capital, per capita income, and innovation have the greatest impact on the increase in Sulfur dioxide emissions, but resource usage indicators, especially the consumption of fossil fuels, lead to a decrease in Sulfur dioxide emissions. In fact, given the low use of renewable energy in the Middle East, energy consumption is mainly based on carbon sources. Thus, it is necessary to use environmental technologies and innovations instead of technology-based activities to control this issue in order to achieve sustainable economic growth and development.

References:

- داربیدی، مریم، دل‌انگیزان، سهراب، فتاحی، شهرام و شریف کریمی، محمد (1399). تأثیر نوآوری بر انتشار آلودگی استان‌های ایران در چارچوب منحنی زیست‌محیطی کوزنتس (رهیافت اقتصاد سنجی فضایی). فصلنامه نظریه‌های کاربردی اقتصاد، 7(3)، 71-98.

- طرازکار، محمدحسن، کارگر ده‌بیدی، نوید، اسفنجاری کناری، رضا و قربانیان، عفت (1399). اثر رشد اقتصادی بر تخریب محیط‌زیست در منطقه خاورمیانه: کاربرد ردپای اکولوژیکی. محیط‌زیست ‌طبیعی، منابع طبیعی ایران، 73(1)، 77-90.

- کلانترزاده، مهسا، زندی، فاطمه، خضری، محمد و صفوی، بیژن (1400). اثرات متقابل حمل‌و‌نقل و رشد اقتصادی و انتشار دی‌اکسید کربن در ایران. فصلنامه مدلسازی اقتصادی، 15(54)، 105-127.

- محمدوند ناهیدی، محمدرضا و قلی‌پور فیضی، پریسا (1391). بررسی رابطه علّی بین متغیّرهای عمده کلان اقتصادی و آلودگی محیطی در کشورهای منتخب (روش پانل دیتا). اقتصاد و توسعه منطقه‌ای، 19(4)، 99-113.

- نصراللهی، زهرا و غفاری گولک، مرضیه (1389). بررسی رابطه آلودگی هوا و رشد اقتصادی در سطح 28 استان کشور (مطالعه موردی co، SO2 و NO_x). مجله دانش و توسعه، 17(33)، 164-184.

- Adekoya, O. B., Oliyide, J. A., & Fasanya, I. O. (2022). Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption – Ecological footprint nexus in net-oil exporting and net-oil importing countries: Policy implications for a sustainable environment. Renewable Energy, 189(1), 524-534.
- Ahmadov, A.K., & van der Borg, C. (2019). Do natural resources impede renewable energy production in the EU? A mixed-methods analysis. Energy Policy, 126(3), 361–369.

- Alkhathlan, K., & Javid M. (2013). Energy consumption, carbon emissions and economic growth in Saudi Arabia: an aggregate and disaggregate analysis. Energy Policy, 62(11), 1525–1532.

- Balsalobre-Lorente, D., Shahbaz, M., Roubaud, D., & Farhani, S. (2018). How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions? Energy Policy, 113(2), 356–367.

- Bekun, F.V., Alola, A.A., & Sarkodie, S.A. (2019). Toward a sustainable environment: nexus between CO2 emissions, resource rent, renewable and nonrenewable energy in 16- EU countries. Sience of the Total Environment, 657(4), 1023–1029.

- Charfeddine, L., & Mrabet, Z. (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, 76(8), 138–154.

- Cole, M. A. (2004). Trade, the pollution haven hypothesis and the environmental Kuznets curve: Examining the linkages. Ecological Economics, 48(1), 71–81.

- Danish, Ulucak, R., & Khan, S. U. D. (2020). Determinants of the ecological footprint: Role of renewable energy, natural resources, and urbanization. Sustainable Cities and Society, 54(3), 101996.

- Dauda, L., Long, X., Mensah, C.N., & Salman, M. (2019). The effects of economic growth and innovation on CO2 emissions in different regions. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26(16), 15028–15038.

- Farzanegan, M.R., & Makwardt, G. (2018). Development and Pollution in the Middle East and North Africa: Democracy Matters, Journal of Policy Modeling, 40(2), 350-374.  

- Feenstra, R. C., Inklaar, R., & Marcel, P. T. (2015). The Next Generation of the Penn World Table. American Economic Review, 105(10), 3150-3182.

- Grossman, G. M., & Krueger, A. B. (1991). Environmental impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement. National bureau of Economic Redearch (NBER) working paper.

- Hassan, S.T., Baloch, M.A., Mahmood, N., & Zhang, J. (2019). Linking economic growth and ecological footprint through human capital and biocapacity. Sustainable Cities and Society, 47(4), 101516.

- Ibrahim, M., & Vo, X. V. (2021). Exploring the relationships among innovation, financial sector development and environmental pollution in selected industrialized countries. Journal of Environmental Management, 284(2), 112057.

- International Resource Panel. (2019). Natural Resources for the Future We Want. Global Resources Outlook 2019. https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/global-resources-outlook

- Jiang, L., He, S., Cui, Y., Zhou, H., & Kong, H. (2020). Effects of the socio-economic influencing factors on SO2  Pollution in Chinese cities: A spatial econometric analysis based on satellite observed data. Journal of Environmental Management, 268(2), 110667.

- Khan, Z., Ali, S., Umar, M., Kirikkaleli, D., & Jiao, Z. (2020). Consumption-based carbon emissions and International trade in G7 countries: the role of Environmental innovation and Renewable energy. Science of The Total Environment, 730(c), 138945.

- Kumar, S., & Managi, S. (2009). Energy price–induced and exogenous technological change: assessing the economic and environmental outcomes. Resource and Energy Economics, 31(2), 334–353.

- Langnel, Z., Amegavi, G.B., Donkor, P., & Mensah, J. K. (2021). Income inequality, human capital, natural resource abundance and ecological footprint in ECOWAS member countries. Resources Policy, 74(5), 102255.

- Li, D., Chen, J., & Gao, J. (2011). Non-parametric time-varying coefficient panel data models with fixed effects. Econometrics Journal, 14(3), 387-408.

- Liu, X., Sun, T., & Feng, Q. (2020). Dynamic spatial spillover effect of urbanization on environmental pollution in China considering the inertia characteristics of environmental pollution. Sustainable Cities and Society, 53(2), 101903.

- Lv, Z., & Xu, T. (2018). Is economic globalization good or bad for the environmental quality? New evidence from dynamic heterogeneous panel models. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 137(12), 340-343.

- Santiago, A. H., & Couto, H. T. Z. D. (2020). Socioeconomic development versus deforestation: considerations on the sustainability of economic and social growth in most Brazilian municipalities. Environmental Development, 35(3), 100520.

- Sati, A.P., & Mohan, M. (2021). Impact of increase in urban sprawls representing five decades on summer-time air quality based on WRF-Chem model simulations over central-National Capital Region, India. Atmospheric Pollution Research, 12(2), 404–416.

- Shahzad, U., Fareed, Z., Shahzad, F., & Shahzad. KH. (2021). Investigating the nexus between economic complexity, energy consumption and ecological footprint for the United States: New insights from quantile methods. Journal of Cleaner Production, 279(2), 123806.

- Solarin, S. A., Shahbaz, M., & Shahzad, S. J. H. (2016). Revisiting the electricity consumption‌economic growth nexus in Angola: The role of exports, imports and urbanization. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 6(3), 501-512.

- Sun, Y., Li, Y., Yu, T., Zhang, X., Liu, L., & Zhang, P. (2021). Resource extraction, environmental pollution and economic development: Evidence from prefecture-level cities in China. Resources Policy, 74(5), 102330.

- Tobelmann, D., & Wendler, T. (2020). The impact of environmental innovation on carbon dioxide emissions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 244(3), 118787.

- Udemba, E. (2022). Moderation of ecological footprint with FDI and agricultural sector for a better environmental performance: New insight from Nigeria. Public Affairs, 22(2), e2444.

- WorldBank, (2006). Middle East and North Africa—Economic Developments and Prospects 2006: Financial Markets in a New Age of Oil. World Bank(b), Washington, DC.

- Xu, F., Huang, Q., Yue, H., He, C., Wang, C., & Zhang, H. (2020). Reexamining the relationship between urbanization and pollutant emissions in China based on the STIRPAT model. Journal of Environmental Management, 273(1), 111134.

- Xu, Y., Zhang, W., Wang, J., Ji, S., Wang, C., & Streets, D. G. (2021). Investigating the spatially heterogeneous impacts of urbanization on city-level industrial SO2 emissions: Evidence from night-time light data in China. Ecological Indicators, 133(2), 108430.

- Yang, H., He, J., & Chen, S. (2015). The fragility of the Environmental Kuznets Curve: revisiting the hypothesis with Chinese data via an “Extreme Bound Analysis”. Ecological Economics, 109(1), 41–58.

- Zheng, S., Wang, R., Mak, T.M., Hsu, S.C., & Tsang, D.C. (2021). How energy service companies moderate the impact of industrialization and urbanization on car- bon emissions in China? Science of The Total Environment, 751(2), 141610.