Environmental Performance and GDP Growth: A Non-linear Approach for the G20 Countries

Minoas Koukouritakis ()

Economia Internazionale / International Economics, 2022, vol. 75, issue 1, 101-130

Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between the environmental performance (measured by the Environmental Performance Index 2020) and the economic performance (measured by the real GDP growth rate) for the G20 countries plus Spain and two smaller sub-groups: the advanced G7 economies plus Spain and the emerging BRICS economies. Using annual data for the period 1995-2019, a Panel Smooth Transition Regression model is estimated. The empirical results indicate that for the group of the G20 countries plus Spain, the impact of environmental performance on the real GDP growth rate is negative below a specific turning point, while it becomes positive above this point. Similar results are obtained for the group of the G7 countries plus Spain, while for the BRIICS economies this impact is negative only in the low regime. Thus, it seems that the emerging economies probably follow a different path, mainly due to their high-polluting production structure. Performance ambientale e crescita del PIL: un approccio non-lineare per i paesi G20 Questo articolo studia la relazione tra la performance ambientale (misurata dall’Indice di sostenibilità ambientale 2020) e la performance economica (misurata dal tasso di crescita del PIL reale) nei paesi G20 e la Spagna e due piccoli sottogruppi: le economie avanzate del G7 più la Spagna e le economie emergenti dei paesi BRICS. Si utilizzano dati annuali relativi al periodo 1995-2019 e un modello di Panel Smooth Transition Regression. I risultati empirici indicano che per il gruppo G20 più Spagna l’impatto della performance ambientale sul tasso di crescita del PIL reale è negativo al di sotto di uno specifico punto di svolta, mentre diventa positivo al di sopra di questo punto. Risultati simili si ottengono per il gruppo G7 più Spagna, mentre per i BRICS l’impatto è negativo solo nel basso regime. Sembrerebbe cioè che le economie emergenti seguano un andamento diverso a causa della loro struttura produttiva altamente inquinante.

Keywords: G20; Real GDP Growth Rate; Environmental Performance Index 2020; Neoclassical Environmental Economics; Porters Hypothesis; Panel Smooth Transition Regression Model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F64 O44 Q56 (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)

Downloads: (external link)
http://iei1946.it/upload/rivista_articoli/allegati/433_koukouritakisricfinal.pdf Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:ecoint:0915

Access Statistics for this article

Economia Internazionale / International Economics is currently edited by Giovanni Battista Pittaluga

More articles in Economia Internazionale / International Economics from Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova Via Garibaldi 4, 16124 Genova, Italy. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Angela Procopio ().