Diverse Effects of Consumer Credit on Household Carbon Emissions at Quantiles: Evidence from Urban China

Xinkuo Xu and Liyan Han
Additional contact information
Xinkuo Xu: School of Finance, Capital University of Economics and Business, Zhangjialukou 121, Fengtai Distinct, Beijing 100070, China
Liyan Han: School of Economics and Management, Beihang University, Xueyuan Road, Haidian Distinct, Beijing 100191, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 9, 1-25

Abstract: This paper surveys the diverse effects of consumer credit on household carbon emissions (HCEs) based on consumption patterns revealed by urban Chinese survey data. Based on the foundation of existing literature, consumption patterns and influential factors are carefully chosen to build empirical models that apply Heteroscedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimation and quantile regression. The study finds that short-term consumer credit and credit card limits (representing daily consumption) have effects on HCEs at all quantiles, but mortgages (representing long-term consumer credit) only have effects at high quantiles. Consumption categories have distinct effects on HCEs at different quantiles. The effects of mortgages on HCEs occur mainly through the consumption of housing and facilities as well as through the consumption of medical care and transportation, while the effects of short-term consumer credit and credit card limits on HCEs occur through almost all consumption categories. These findings contribute to knowledge of the determinants of HCEs and provide a theoretical basis for consumer financial mechanisms to cut HCEs.

Keywords: household carbon emissions; consumer credit; consumption patterns; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/9/1563/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/9/1563/ (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:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:9:p:1563-:d:110715

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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