Income vs. economic freedom threshold and energy utilities in Russia: an environmental quality variableness?

Abstract

As countries compete to achieve a better economic freedom in the last decades, there is almost no empirical query on the likelihood of its environmental quality (de)merit and/or its effect on the attainment of Global Goals. In the case of Russia, the country with a relatively unimpressive economic freedom ranking according to Fraser Institute (2020) and Heritage.org (Heritage 2020), the current study examined the validity of the rise and fall hypothesis via-a-vis U- or inverted U-shaped hypothesis of economic freedom and carbon emissions in comparison to the rise and fall hypothesis of income-environmental degradation relationship. The study found a U-shaped hypothesis and an inverted U-shaped hypothesis for economic freedom-carbon emissions relationship in the short run and long run respectively as against an inverted U-shaped hypothesis for income-carbon emissions relationship in both terms. Moreover, coal, natural gas, and oil energy utilizations that are the country's main energy sources exert a significant and damaging effect on the country's environmental quality in the short and long run. However, the study posited that nuclear energy utilization in Russia has an environmental quality benefit in both short run and long run. Importantly, this study offers a significantly useful economic and energy policy for Russia, thus reenacting the country's 2030 Global Goals outlook.

Keywords: Carbon emissions; Economic freedom; Energy utilization; Income; Russia Federation.