IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pre/wpaper/201466.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is there an Environmental Kuznets Curve for South Africa? A Co-Summability Approach Using a Century of Data

Author

Listed:
  • Adnen Ben Nasr

    (Laboratoire BESTMOD, ISG de Tunis, Universite de Tunis, Tunisia.)

  • Rangan Gupta

    (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, South Africa.)

  • Joao Ricardo Sato

    (Center of Mathematics, Computation and Cognition, Universidade Federal do ABC,Brazil.)

Abstract

There exists a huge international literature on the, so-called, Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, which in turn, postulates an inverted u-shaped relationship between environmental pollutants and output. The empirical literature on EKC has mainly used test for cointegration, based on polynomial relationships between pollution and income. Motivated by the fact that, measured in per capita CO2 equivalent emissions, South Africa is the world’s most carbon-intensive non-oil-producing developing country, this paper aims to test the validity of the EKC for South Africa. For this purpose, we use a century of data (1911-2010), to capture the process of development better compared to short sample-based research; and the concept of co-summability, which is designed to analyze non-linear long-run relations among persistent processes. Our results, however, provide no support of the EKC for South Africa, implying that to reduce emissions without sacrificing growth, policies should be aimed at promoting energy efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Adnen Ben Nasr & Rangan Gupta & Joao Ricardo Sato, 2014. "Is there an Environmental Kuznets Curve for South Africa? A Co-Summability Approach Using a Century of Data," Working Papers 201466, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:pre:wpaper:201466
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Selden, Thomas M., 1995. "Stoking the fires? CO2 emissions and economic growth," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 85-101, May.
    2. 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.
    3. Susmita Dasgupta & Benoit Laplante & Hua Wang & David Wheeler, 2002. "Confronting the Environmental Kuznets Curve," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 147-168, Winter.
    4. Roula Inglesi-Lotz & Jessika Bohlmann, 2014. "Environmental Kuznets curve in South Africa: To confirm or not to confirm?," EcoMod2014 6378, EcoMod.
    5. Menyah, Kojo & Wolde-Rufael, Yemane, 2010. "Energy consumption, pollutant emissions and economic growth in South Africa," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1374-1382, November.
    6. Marcel Kohler, 2013. "CO2 Emissions, Energy Consumption, Income and Foreign Trade: A South African Perspective," Working Papers 356, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    7. Cowan, Wendy N. & Chang, Tsangyao & Inglesi-Lotz, Roula & Gupta, Rangan, 2014. "The nexus of electricity consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in the BRICS countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 359-368.
    8. Sato, Joao R. & Morettin, Pedro A. & Arantes, Paula R. & Amaro Jr., Edson, 2007. "Wavelet based time-varying vector autoregressive modelling," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 51(12), pages 5847-5866, August.
    9. Jesús Gonzalo & Jean‐Yves Pitarakis, 2006. "Threshold Effects in Cointegrating Relationships," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 68(s1), pages 813-833, December.
    10. AROURI, Mohamed El Hedi & BEN YOUSSEF, Adel & M'HENNI, Hatem & Rault, Christophe, 2012. "Empirical Analysis of The EKC Hypothesis for Sulfur Dioxide Emissions in Selected Middle East and North African Countries," MPRA Paper 46185, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2012.
    11. Brock, William A. & Taylor, M. Scott, 2005. "Economic Growth and the Environment: A Review of Theory and Empirics," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 28, pages 1749-1821, Elsevier.
    12. Duarte, Rosa & Pinilla, Vicente & Serrano, Ana, 2013. "Is there an environmental Kuznets curve for water use? A panel smooth transition regression approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 518-527.
    13. Arouri, Mohamed El Hedi & Ben Youssef, Adel & M'henni, Hatem & Rault, Christophe, 2012. "Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Middle East and North African countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 342-349.
    14. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 2003. "Computation and analysis of multiple structural change models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 1-22.
    15. Ajmi, Ahdi Noomen & Hammoudeh, Shawkat & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Sato, João Ricardo, 2015. "On the relationships between CO2 emissions, energy consumption and income: The importance of time variation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 629-638.
    16. Berenguer Rico, Vanessa, 2013. "Co-summability from linear to non-linear cointegration," UC3M Working papers. Economics we1312, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    17. Hong, Seung Hyun & Wagner, Martin, 2008. "Nonlinear Cointegration Analysis and the Environmental Kuznets Curve," Economics Series 224, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    18. Kohler, Marcel, 2013. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption, income and foreign trade: A South African perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1042-1050.
    19. Balcilar, Mehmet & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin & Arslanturk, Yalcin, 2010. "Economic growth and energy consumption causal nexus viewed through a bootstrap rolling window," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1398-1410, November.
    20. Berenguer-Rico, Vanessa & Gonzalo, Jesús, 2014. "Summability of stochastic processes—A generalization of integration for non-linear processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 178(P2), pages 331-341.
    21. Johansen, Søren & Juselius, Katarina, 1992. "Testing structural hypotheses in a multivariate cointegration analysis of the PPP and the UIP for UK," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1-3), pages 211-244.
    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. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 emission: A survey of empirical literature," MPRA Paper 100257, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    2. Louis Sevitnenyi Nkwatoh, 2022. "Zero-pollution effect and economic development: standard and nested environmental Kuznets curve analyses for West Africa," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(10), pages 11895-11910, October.
    3. Claudia Nyarko Mensah & Lamini Dauda & Kofi Baah Boamah & Muhammad Salman, 2021. "One district one factory policy of Ghana, a transition to a low-carbon habitable economy?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 703-721, January.
    4. LAWSON, Laté A. & MARTINO, Roberto & NGUYEN-VAN, Phu, 2020. "Environmental convergence and environmental Kuznets curve: A unified empirical framework," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 437(C).
    5. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Inekwe, John & Ivanovski, Kris & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve across Australian states and territories," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Nilüfer Kaya Kanlı & Bige Küçükefe, 2023. "Is the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis valid? A global analysis for carbon dioxide emissions," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 2339-2367, March.
    7. Aslan Alper & Gozbasi Onur, 2016. "Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for sub-elements of the carbon emissions in China," 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. 82(2), pages 1327-1340, June.
    8. Kristofer Månsson & B. M. Golam Kibria & Ghazi Shukur & Pär Sjölander, 2018. "On the Estimation of the CO 2 Emission, Economic Growth and Energy Consumption Nexus Using Dynamic OLS in the Presence of Multicollinearity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-11, April.
    9. Muhammad Shahbaz & Avik Sinha, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2emissions: a literature survey," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 106-168, January.
    10. Awad, Atif, 2019. "Does economic integration damage or benefit the environment? Africa's experience," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 991-999.
    11. Anh-Tu Nguyen & Shih-Hao Lu & Phuc Thanh Thien Nguyen, 2021. "Validating and Forecasting Carbon Emissions in the Framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve: The Case of Vietnam," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-38, May.
    12. Seref Bozoklu & A. Oguz Demir & Sinan Ataer, 2020. "Reassessing the environmental Kuznets curve: a summability approach for emerging market economies," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 513-531, September.
    13. Bouznit, Mohammed & Pablo-Romero, María del P., 2016. "CO2 emission and economic growth in Algeria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 93-104.
    14. Erik Hille & Bernhard Lambernd & Aviral K. Tiwari, 2021. "Any Signs of Green Growth? A Spatial Panel Analysis of Regional Air Pollution in South Korea," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(4), pages 719-760, December.
    15. Wang, Xueyang & Sun, Xiumei & Ahmad, Mahmood & Chen, Jiawei, 2024. "Energy transition, ecological governance, globalization, and environmental sustainability: Insights from the top ten emitting countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    16. Atif Awad, 2021. "Structural Transformation versus Environmental Quality: The Experience of the Low-income Countries in Sub Saharan Africa," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(6), pages 479-488.
    17. Atif Awad & Mohammed Hersi Warsame, 2017. "Climate Changes in Africa: Does Economic Growth Matter? A Semi-parametric Approach," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8.
    18. Maralgua Och, 2017. "Empirical Investigation of the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis for Nitrous Oxide Emissions for Mongolia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(1), pages 117-128.
    19. Deshan Li & Yanfen Zhao & Rongwei Wu & Jiefang Dong, 2019. "Spatiotemporal Features and Socioeconomic Drivers of PM 2.5 Concentrations in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, February.
    20. Ivanovski, Kris & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa, 2020. "Convergence and determinants of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia: A regional analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    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. Sofien, Tiba & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy variables, environment and economic growth," MPRA Paper 82555, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Sep 2016.
    2. Apergis, Nicholas & Christou, Christina & Gupta, Rangan, 2017. "Are there Environmental Kuznets Curves for US state-level CO2 emissions?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 551-558.
    3. Mohamed Abdouli & Sami Hammami, 2017. "Economic growth, FDI inflows and their impact on the environment: an empirical study for the MENA countries," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 121-146, January.
    4. Seref Bozoklu & A. Oguz Demir & Sinan Ataer, 2020. "Reassessing the environmental Kuznets curve: a summability approach for emerging market economies," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 513-531, September.
    5. Tiba, Sofien & Omri, Anis, 2017. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy, environment and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1129-1146.
    6. Apergis, Nicholas, 2016. "Environmental Kuznets curves: New evidence on both panel and country-level CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 263-271.
    7. Muhammad Bilal Khan & Hummera Saleem & Malik Shahzad Shabbir & Xie Huobao, 2022. "The effects of globalization, energy consumption and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in South Asian countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 33(1), pages 107-134, February.
    8. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Haouas, Ilham & Hoang, Thi Hong Van, 2019. "Economic growth and environmental degradation in Vietnam: Is the environmental Kuznets curve a complete picture?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 197-218.
    9. Mapapu, Babalwa & Phiri, Andrew, 2017. "Carbon emissions and economic growth in South Africa: A quantile regression approach," MPRA Paper 81801, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Berenguer Rico, Vanessa, 2013. "Co-summability from linear to non-linear cointegration," UC3M Working papers. Economics we1312, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    11. Fotis, Panagiotis & Karkalakos, Sotiris & Asteriou, Dimitrios, 2017. "The relationship between energy demand and real GDP growth rate: The role of price asymmetries and spatial externalities within 34 countries across the globe," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 69-84.
    12. Luzzati, T. & Orsini, M., 2009. "Investigating the energy-environmental Kuznets curve," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 291-300.
    13. Valeria Costantini & Chiara Martini, 2010. "A Modified Environmental Kuznets Curve for sustainable development assessment using panel data," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(1/2), pages 84-122.
    14. Priscilla Massa-Sánchez & Luis Quintana-Romero & Ronny Correa-Quezada & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama, 2020. "Empirical Evidence in Ecuador between Economic Growth and Environmental Deterioration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, January.
    15. Atwi, Majed & Barberán, Ramón & Mur, Jesús & Angulo, Ana, 2018. "CO2 Kuznets Curve Revisited: From Cross-Sections to Panel Data Models," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 40, pages 169-196.
    16. Haoran Zhao & Sen Guo & Huiru Zhao, 2018. "Impacts of GDP, Fossil Fuel Energy Consumption, Energy Consumption Intensity, and Economic Structure on SO 2 Emissions: A Multi-Variate Panel Data Model Analysis on Selected Chinese Provinces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, March.
    17. 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.
    18. Wang, Shaojian & Li, Guangdong & Fang, Chuanglin, 2018. "Urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions: Empirical evidence from countries with different income levels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2144-2159.
    19. Misbah Sadiq & Desti Kannaiah & Ghulam Yahya Khan & Malik Shahzad Shabbir & Kanwal Bilal & Aysha Zamir, 2023. "Does sustainable environmental agenda matter? The role of globalization toward energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emissions in South Asian countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 76-95, January.
    20. Bouznit, Mohammed & Pablo-Romero, María del P., 2016. "CO2 emission and economic growth in Algeria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 93-104.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental Kuznets Curve; CO2 emissions; Output; Co-summability; South Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C01 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Econometrics
    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pre:wpaper:201466. 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: Rangan Gupta (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/decupza.html .

    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.