How does fiscal decentralization affect CO2 emissions? The roles of institutions and human capital

By Zeeshan Khan, Shahid Ali, Kangyin Dong, Rita Yi Man Li. Energy Economics, 2020

562 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract The debate regarding whether fiscal decentralization can effectively mitigate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has gained increasing attention, although there is little empirical evidence to support this issue. To provide empirical evidence in support of the theoretical argument, this study investigates the impact of fiscal decentralization on CO2 emissions by using a balanced panel dataset of seven OECD countries between 1990 and 2018. Further, we explore the roles institutions and human capital play in the impact of fiscal decentralization on CO2 emissions. Hence, in addition to the direct impact, we assume fiscal decentralization could indirectly affect CO2 emissions through various channels, such as institutions and human capital. The empirical results indicate that fiscal decentralization improves environmental quality. Moreover, the relationship between fiscal decentralization and environmental quality is strengthened by improvements in the quality of institutions and the development of human capital. In addition, there are one-way effects from fiscal decentralization, GDP, human capital, eco-innovation, and institutional quality on CO2 emissions, but not the other way round. In terms of policy implications, this study suggests that by authorizing a lower unit of the state, countries could successfully implement policies related to improving environmental quality.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2f24f45c853a07f98fe165a9fba012fe4a4c208f

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In Economics and Econometrics

1. Muntasir Murshed
2. Zeeshan Khan
3. Kangyin Dong
4. Siqun Yang
5. M. H. Chadni
6. Jannatul Ferdaus

Citations in the corpus

• The roles of export diversification and composite country risks in carbon emissions abatement: evidence from the signatories of the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement (2021, background): “…risk, financial risk, and economic risk) on CO2 emissions based on the panel smooth transition regression model, indicating that financial risk can have a monotonically increasing impact on CO2 emissions; Abbasi and Riaz (2016), Khan et al. (2021), and Zaidi et al. (2019) have confirmed this view.”