Does the Level of Absorptive Capacity Matter for Carbon Intensity? Evidence from the USA and China

Kamalova Mariyakhan, Elyas Abdulahi Mohamued, Muhammad Asif Khan, József Popp and Judit Oláh
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Kamalova Mariyakhan: School of Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1037 Luoyu Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430074, China
Elyas Abdulahi Mohamued: College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Jigjiga University, Somali Region 1020, Ethiopia
Muhammad Asif Khan: Department of Commerce, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 11100, Pakistan
József Popp: Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Szent István University, 2100 Gödölő, Hungary
Judit Oláh: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: Interest in the rapid growth of CO 2 emissions, together with the economic performance of various countries continues to attract researchers and practitioners’ interest. Alongside, concerns regarding global warming and its effects on human and animal health, and thus sustainable development, escalate. The present study employs the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag to identify short- and long-run dynamics and the asymmetric nexus between absorptive capacity, and CO 2 emissions intensity from 1970 to 2018 in the case of the USA and China. In the short-run, an increase in technology transfer based on human resources increases CO 2 emissions in China. Contrarily, the decrease in technology transfer based on infrastructure has an emissions-decreasing effect in China. In the long-run, the effects of an increase in absorptive capacity based on innovation and infrastructure developments provide positive and significant impetus to mitigate the carbon intensity in China and the USA. The results are robust using GHG intensity. Thus, policymakers and researchers have to consider the pivotal role of absorptive capacity in facilitating sustainable development.

Keywords: absorptive capacity; carbon intensity; sustainable economic growth; innovation; infrastructure developments (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 (21)

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