Relative effects of regional and global trade on carbon emissions in ECOWAS member countries

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Date
2019-01-05
Authors
Oyelami, L.O.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SAGE JOURNAL
Abstract
The effect of trade on environmental quality has always been ambiguous in both developed and developing countries. This has prompted several country- and region-specific studies. It is against this background that this study seeks to investigate the effect of international trade on carbon emissions in the ECOWAS subregion in general and specifically determines the relative effect of regional and global trade on carbon emissions. To achieve this, time-series data on trade and carbon emissions from 1970 to 2014 was employed for 14 ECOWAS member countries based on data availability and the data were duly subjected to required econometric tests to prevent spurious analysis. PMG/MG method of panel ARDL was adopted to estimate the relative effect of regional and global trade on carbon emissions and this is based on the capability of the method to classify relationship into short-run and long-run and also solve endogeneity issues. The results from model estimation show that the effect of trade on environmental quality is a long-term phenomenon and basically support the view that trade has a negative effect on environmental quality. However, regional trade is less harmful and it can guarantee improved environmental quality in the long run. The study therefore recommend that countries in the region should trade more with one another especially in areas where they lack competitiveness as this can better guarantee a more sustainable development for the entire subregion.
Description
Staff publications
Keywords
Trade , environment , PMG , emission , Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES
Citation
Oyelami, L.O. (2019). Relative effects of regional and global trade on carbon emissions in ECOWAS member countries.