The Environmental Effects of Urbanization, Education, and Green Innovation in the Union for Mediterranean Countries: Evidence from Quantile Regression Model

Rashid Latief, Usman Sattar, Sohail Ahmad Javeed, Ammar Gull () and Yingshun Pei
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Rashid Latief: School of Finance, Xuzhou University of Technology, Xuzhou 221018, China
Usman Sattar: College of Law and Political Science, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
Sohail Ahmad Javeed: Hangzhou College of Commerce, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 311500, China
Yingshun Pei: School of Finance, Xuzhou University of Technology, Xuzhou 221018, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-17

Abstract: This study aims to examine the environmental dynamics in the Union for Mediterranean (UFM) countries by considering education, urbanization, green innovation, and other key factors for the period 2001–2016. The data are divided based on the income level of UFM countries and analyzed with panel quantile regression, panel unit root tests, panel co-integration test, ordinary least squares method, and fixed effects model to evaluate the nexus between variables. A generalized method of moments (GMM) is employed to deal with the endogeneity issue in the panel data. The results of the study confirm that the urban population has an inverted U-shaped association with environmental degradation in the lower-middle and high-middle income countries. It further comes out that increased education levels decrease environmental degradation in the high-income countries. Hence, green innovation reduces environmental degradation in the upper-middle-income and high-middle-income countries. The study validates an inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP and environmental degradation in all income-based groups of countries, which supports the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis.

Keywords: green innovation; urbanization; education; environmental Kuznets curve; 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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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