The Threshold Effect of FDI on CO 2 Emission in Belt and Road Countries

Ying Nie, Qingjie Liu, Rong Liu, Dexiao Ren, Yao Zhong and Feng Yu
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Ying Nie: Institute of Data Science and Agricultural Economics, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
Qingjie Liu: Belt and Road School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Rong Liu: Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Dexiao Ren: School of Management, Guangzhou College of Technology and Business, Guangzhou 510850, China
Yao Zhong: Institute of Data Science and Agricultural Economics, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
Feng Yu: Institute of Data Science and Agricultural Economics, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: Under the background of the global “carbon neutrality” goal, it is of great significance to study the environmental effect of FDI in rapid economic development. This paper proposes an original framework to determine the relative influence of five factors on the Belt and Road countries with a strong FDI-CO 2 association. Based on the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model, we establish country-specific and time-specific FDI-CO 2 coefficients for 59 Belt and Road countries during 2003–2018. These coefficients are assumed to change smoothly as a function of five threshold variables, considered the most important in the literature devoted to the FDI-CO 2 correlations. The results show that the degree of GDP per capita, industrialization, openness, and total factor productivity significantly influences the FDI-CO 2 relationship. However, they showed obvious heterogeneity. The coefficient of elasticity of the environmental effects of FDI smoothly transitions between the different intervals, the relationship between GDP per capita and FDI-CO 2 coefficient shows a bell-shaped change, the relationship between degree of trade openness and FDI-CO 2 coefficient also shows a bell-shaped change, the relationship between industrialization level and FDI-CO 2 coefficient shows an inverted N-shaped change, the change of a country’s technological level shows a bell-shaped relationship with the FDI-CO 2 coefficient. The results indicate that PSTR model can be used to study the threshold effect on FDI’s influence on carbon dioxide emissions and the individual and time differences in coefficients of elasticity, to provide a new research perspective and new conclusions on the environmental effect of FDI in rapid economic development.

Keywords: FDI; CO 2 emissions; Belt and Road countries; PSTR model; threshold effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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