Quantifying the impacts of energy inequality on carbon emissions in China: A household-level analysis

Yue Dou, Jun Zhao, Xiucheng Dong and Kangyin Dong ()

Energy Economics, 2021, vol. 102, issue C

Abstract: This study empirically investigates the impact of energy inequality on household carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in China by employing a balanced panel dataset for China's 30 provinces for the period 2000–2017. Fully considering the potential cross-sectional dependence, this study employs a series of empirical approaches allowing for cross-sectional dependence. Moreover, given the significant differences in energy inequality and household CO2 emissions, we further conduct an asymmetric analysis on the nexus between energy inequality and household CO2 emissions. The empirical results indicate energy inequality can positively affect the volume of household CO2 emissions; however, this finding makes no economic sense since it goes against the actual conditions in China (energy inequality and household CO2 emissions have shown reverse change trends in recent years). Simultaneously, we find that narrowing energy inequality can reduce the growth rate of CO2 emissions, a fact we confirm with a series of robustness tests. Notably, the impact of energy inequality on household CO2 growth is asymmetric across various quantiles (i.e., different regions). Accordingly, we highlight several relevant policy implications for the Chinese government to reduce household CO2 emissions and narrow energy inequality.

Keywords: Urban-rural energy inequality; Household CO2 emissions; Volume vs. growth rate; Asymmetric analysis; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:102:y:2021:i:c:s014098832100387x

DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105502

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