Does the frequency of stochastic convergence in per capita ecological footprint matter?

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 May;30(21):59676-59688. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-26688-w. Epub 2023 Apr 4.

Abstract

Among the environmental economics research issues, the issue of convergence has received quite a lot of attention, which is also known as stationary analysis. In this research strand, whether shocks to the time series variable are permanent or temporary is tested via the unit root tests. In this study, based on the theory and empirical works of stochastic convergence, we evaluate the convergence for the BASIC member countries, including Brazil, South Africa, India, and China. We use a variety of methodologies to see whether the convergence of ecological footprint holds for these countries or not. We first use the wavelet decomposition technique to decompose the series into the short run, middle run, and long run, and then we run several unit root tests to confirm the stationarity property of the series. The methodologies implemented in this study allow us to apply econometric tests to the original series as well as to the decomposed series. The results of panel CIPS test demonstrate that the null hypothesis of unit root could be rejected for the short run but not for the middle and long run, implying that long-lasting impact might prevail due to any shocks to the ecological footprint in the middle and long run. The results for individual countries varied.

Keywords: BASIC countries; Ecological footprint; Stochastic convergence; Wavelet decomposition.

MeSH terms

  • Brazil
  • Carbon Dioxide / analysis
  • Carbon Footprint* / statistics & numerical data
  • Economic Development*
  • India
  • South Africa

Substances

  • Carbon Dioxide