Development and pollution in the Middle East and North Africa: Democracy matters

Mohammad Reza Farzanegan () and Gunther Markwardt

Journal of Policy Modeling, 2018, vol. 40, issue 2, 350-374

Abstract: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries are among the world’s top emitters of CO2 and SO2 in per capita terms. The objective of this paper is to analyze whether investing in the democratic development of these countries is an effective tool to make the economic development in this region more environmentally compatible. Using panel data on the income-emission-democracy nexus in 17 MENA countries from 1980 to 2005, we find evidence that improvements in the democratic development of the MENA countries help to mitigate environmental problems. Our results clearly show that the quality of democratic institutions has a greater influence on local environmental problems than on global environmental issues in the MENA region.

Keywords: Democratic development; Political institutions; Environmental quality; MENA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: P48 Q56 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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:jpolmo:v:40:y:2018:i:2:p:350-374

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2018.01.010

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