How Would Economic Development Influence Carbon Productivity? A Case from Hubei in China
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School of Economic Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
2
Center for Research of Economics & Environment, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
3
Key Laboratory of Strategic Studies, Ministry of Land and Resources, Wuhan 430074, China
4
Business School, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
5
School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(8), 1730; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081730
Received: 7 July 2018 / Revised: 7 August 2018 / Accepted: 10 August 2018 / Published: 12 August 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Operations and Innovations for the Environment)
Carbon productivity, defined as the gross domestic product (GDP) per unit of CO2 emissions, has been used by provincial governments in China as in indicator for effort and effect in addressing climate-change problems. The aggregate impact of economic growth on carbon productivity is complex and worthy of extensive investigation to design effective environmental and economic policies. Based on a novel combination of the smooth transition regression model and the Markov regime-switching regression model, this paper analyzes time series data on carbon productivity and economic growth from Hubei Province in China. The results show that the influence of economic growth on carbon productivity is highly nonlinear. In general, economic growth has a positive impact on improving carbon productivity. From a longitudinal perspective, this nonlinear positive impact is further divided into three stages, transiting from a high regime to a low regime and then back to a high regime. The high regime stage, in which economic growth has stronger positive influence on enhancing carbon productivity, is expected to last for considerably longer time than the low regime stage. It is more probable for a low regime stage to transit to a high regime. Once the relation of carbon productivity and economic growth enters the high regime status it becomes relatively stable there. If the government aims to achieve higher carbon productivity, it is helpful to encourage stronger economic development. However, simply enhancing carbon productivity is not enough for curbing carbon emissions, especially for fast growing economies.
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Keywords:
economic growth; carbon productivity; smooth transition regression model; Markov regime switching model
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MDPI and ACS Style
Wang, Y.; Yang, S.; Liu, C.; Li, S. How Would Economic Development Influence Carbon Productivity? A Case from Hubei in China. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 1730. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081730
AMA Style
Wang Y, Yang S, Liu C, Li S. How Would Economic Development Influence Carbon Productivity? A Case from Hubei in China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2018; 15(8):1730. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081730
Chicago/Turabian StyleWang, Yiwei; Yang, Shuwang; Liu, Canmian; Li, Shiying. 2018. "How Would Economic Development Influence Carbon Productivity? A Case from Hubei in China" Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 15, no. 8: 1730. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081730
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