A New Look at the Democracy–Environment Nexus: Evidence from Panel Data for High- and Low-Income Countries

Soohyeon Kim, Jungho Baek and Eunnyeong Heo
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Soohyeon Kim: Department of Energy Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Eunnyeong Heo: Department of Energy Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: This study is to investigate whether the multifaceted roles of democracy have a positive relationship with environmental quality. Using a panel data of 132 high- and low-income countries from 2014 to 2016, a random effect (RE) model is analyzed in comparison with cross-sectional analysis. To pursue the current research thoroughly, five elements of democracy that encompass the aspects of democratic institutions (election system, civil liberties, and government function) and the aspects of democratic culture (political participation and political culture) are selected. We find that elements of democracy are positively correlated with the environment in high-income countries. In low-income countries, on the other hand, it is found that the role of democracy in explaining the environmental quality appears to be very weak; only the effect of government function positively relates with the environment.

Keywords: Democracy; environment; environmental Kuznets curve; panel data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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