The Ecological Footprint and Kuznets Environmental Curve in the USMCA Countries: A Method of Moments Quantile Regression Analysis

Mario Gómez and José Carlos Rodríguez
Additional contact information
José Carlos Rodríguez: Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Empresariales (Economic and Business Research Institute), Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo-Ciudad Universitaria-ININEE, Morelia 58030, Mexico

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-15

Abstract: This article examines the environmental Kuznets curve for the member countries of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), using the ecological footprint as a measure of environmental degradation during 1980–2016. Panel data econometric methods are applied in this research, such as the cross-section dependence, unit root, cointegration and causality tests, and the new method of moments quantile regression (MMQR). The results suggest that the variables are characterized by a cross-section dependence, integrated of order one, and cointegrated. The fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method shows that renewable energy reduces environmental degradation, and the environmental Kuznets curve is validated. In contrast, patents and trade openness do not show a statistically significant relationship. These results are confirmed with the MMQR, where renewable energy reduces environmental degradation in quantiles from 4 to 6, while the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is valid in quantiles from 3 to 9, and patents and trade openness do not show a statistically significant relationship in any quantile. Therefore, it is essential to promote renewable energies, cleaner technologies, and environmental regulations to reduce polluting emissions.

Keywords: cointegration; causality; environmental Kuznets curve; ecological footprint; renewable energy; UMSCA countries; quantile regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6650/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6650/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:24:p:6650-:d:463291

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().