A new look at carbon dioxide emissions in MENA countries

Nidhaleddine Ben Cheikh () and Younes Ben Zaied
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Younes Ben Zaied: EDC Paris Business School

Climatic Change, 2021, vol. 166, issue 3, No 1, 22 pages

Abstract: Abstract This paper revisits the dynamic relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and income growth for the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. There has been a lively debate about the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), which postulates the presence of an inverted U-shaped pattern for pollution levels as income increases. Our study proposes a new approach that models the emissions–income nexus without imposing any prior shape on the EKC. Accordingly, we suggest the implementation of a nonlinear panel threshold regression framework in which the change in the dynamics of environmental quality can be modeled endogenously from the data. The empirical results reveal the presence of a threshold effect in CO2 emissions, as the impact of income changes nonlinearly depending on different energy-related variables. We note the role of the energy fuel mix in mitigating emissions as MENA countries switch to low-carbon sources of energy and renewables.

Keywords: CO2 emissions; Growth; Energy intensity; Panel threshold regression model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 Q43 Q53 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-03126-9

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