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This paper investigates the relationship between economic growth, biodiversity loss and efforts to conserve biodiversity using a combination of panel and cross section data. If economic growth is a cause of biodiversity loss through habitat transformation and other means, then we would expect an inverse relationship. But if higher levels of income are associated with increasing real demand for biodiversity conservation, then investment to protect remaining diversity should grow and the rate of biodiversity loss should slow with growth. Initially, economic growth and biodiversity loss are examined within the framework of the environmental Kuznets hypothesis. Biodiversity is represented by predicted species richness, generated for tropical terrestrial biodiversity using a species-area relationship. The environmental Kuznets hypothesis is investigated with reference to comparison of fixed and random effects models to allow the relationship to vary for each country. It is concluded that an environmental Kuznets curve between income and rates of loss of habitat and species does not exist in this case. The role of conservation effort in addressing environmental problems is examined through state protection of land and the regulation of trade in endangered species, two important means of biodiversity conservation. This analysis shows that the extent of government environmental policy increases with economic development. We argue that, although the data are problematic, the implications of these models is that conservation effort can only ever result in a partial deceleration of biodiversity decline partly because protected areas serve multiple functions and are not necessarily designated to protect biodiversity. Nevertheless institutional and policy response components of the income biodiversity relationship are important but are not well captured through cross-country regression analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines disparities in the level of economic development at the beginning of the 19th century, comparing between the Netherlands and Java. A detailed reconstruction of GDP and purchasing power parities shows that before the Industrial Revolution Java’s GDP per capita was about a third of the level of the Netherlands, confirming Angus Maddison’s estimates. Disparities in real wages were much smaller, however, for skilled laborers real wages on Java were higher than in the Netherlands. This paradox arises because the structure of the economy and the distribution of income of both countries was very different. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigates the relationship between temperature and hospitalization in China. Using inpatient visit claims of two major public insurance schemes covering 47 cities in 28 provinces for three years, we see a 7.3% increase in hospital admissions on days on which the average temperature is above 27 °C, and a 2% increase in 31-day cumulative hospital admissions relative to a benchmark-temperature day in the subsequent weeks. Such an effect is much larger than evidence from developed economies. Using detailed information on medical bills, we calculate that an additional hot day nationwide is associated with approximately 2 billion yuan (roughly equivalent to 0.3 billion US dollars) increase in medical expenses that are related to inpatient services, 1.9 billion yuan (roughly equivalent to 0.29 billion US dollars) of which is borne by the public insurance system, and 0.2 billion yuan (roughly equivalent to 0.01 billion US dollars) of which is borne by the insured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does it pay to be "greener" as a local official in China? In this paper, we examine the effect of local environment regulation outcomes, i.e., local pollution, on leaders' chances of promotion. This is an important question because only when the Chinese cadre evaluation system rewards local officials' green behaviors, these officials would move away from their past priority in promoting economic growth at all costs, so that the environmental crisis in China might be addressed. We collect party secretary data for Chinese counties between 2001 and 2014 to measure promotion patterns. We construct county-year SO2 and PM2.5 pollution measures using NASA satellite data. We adopt an instrumental variable approach to deal with potential endogeneity issues of the pollution variables: for both PM 2.5 and SO2, we use ventilation coefficient, i.e., the product of wind speed and mixing layer height, as the instrument. Our empirical analysis shows that for county party secretaries, those who are able to reduce air pollution are more likely to be promoted. We find similar results for county magistrates. However, we do not find evidence for this pollution-promotion link for prefecture and provincial party secretaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Asian economies have registered strong economic growth over the last few decades, their growing pollution emissions raise concerns among the policymakers about the sustainability of this output growth. This paper tests the causal relationship between economic development, energy consumption, trade openness, financial development, FDI, government expenditures, institutional quality. and pollution emissions for 41 Asian economies from 1996 to 2015. Further, we separately test the impact of political and economic institutions on pollution emissions of the sample economies. Our estimated outcomes, based on the panel cointegration method and panel vector error correction models (VECM), substantiate the presence of a cointegration relationship among all the selected variables. While economic development, energy use, trade openness, and FDI augment environmental degradation, financial development and better economic institutions help the selected countries in reducing their pollution emissions. Moreover, better economic and political institutions also mediate the adverse impact of income, trade openness, and FDI on pollution emissions. The VECM model shows that per capita GDP is the only variable having a causal effect on pollution emissions in all the models. For all the other variables, the causal effect is significant only in a few cases. These outcomes have some important policy recommendations for the sample economies. • We test the direct and indirect effect of institutional quality on CO 2 emissions. • Institutional quality contributes to the reduction of CO 2 emissions in Asia. • Institutional quality also moderates the adverse effects of income on CO 2 emissions. • Policy makers should incorporate the role and efficiency of institutional quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a pioneering endeavour to investigate the determinants of environmental degradation in Australia through a comprehensive framework of EKC and STIRPAT. Specifically, the impacts of multiple factors of socio-economic development including economic growth, trade openness, industrialization, energy consumption on CO 2 emissions are analysed. Furthermore, the influences of financial development through different dimensions (financial efficiency, access and depth) in two subsectors (financial markets and institutions) and other proxies of financial development are focused over the period 1980–2014. Empirical results show short as well as long-run differences in the association among the variables. Short-term bidirectional causality prevails between economic growth, energy consumption, industrialization, and stock market development with carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions. However, there is no significant evidence found on EKC. This is due to the long-run positive impact of financial development, energy consumption, and trade openness on CO 2 emissions. Interestingly, the industrialization process is found to does not affect CO2 emissions. Empirical findings provide insight into why the quality of the Australian environment is truncated with frequent and widespread bushfires and suggest policymakers to have selective and strict environmental-friendly strategies to fulfil a sustainable development goal. • Study analysis determinants of environmental degradation in Australia. • Economic growth, trade openness and energy consumption contribute to CO 2 emissions. • Industrialization process has no statistically significant impact on CO 2 emissions. • Financial efficiency, financial access and financial depth affect the CO 2 emissions. • Financial markets and institutions play a vital role in increasing CO 2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses a seldom recognized empirical puzzle. Much micro-econometric evidence suggests that precipitation has wide ranging impacts on vital economic indicators such as agricultural yields, human capital and even conflict. And yet paradoxically most macro-econometric evidence (especially in the climate economics literature) finds that precipitation has no robust and significant impact on various measures of aggregate economic output. Here, we argue that spatial aggregation of weather at the country level explains this result. We use annual sub-national GDP data to show a concave relationship between precipitation and local GDP growth between 1990 and 2014. We demonstrate that when data are aggregated at larger spatial scales, the significance of the impact decreases and eventually it vanishes. The impact of precipitation on aggregate economic activity is predominantly felt in developing countries and is insignificant in developed countries. Agriculture is found to be a key pathway. Our results have substantial consequences for measuring the economic impact of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency can effectively measure the relationship between economy, resources, environment, and development. Understanding eco-efficiency is of great practical significance for decision makers tasked with addressing and delivering sustainable socioeconomic development. Based on an "undesirable output Slacks-Based Measure models," this study evaluated the eco-efficiency of 285 Chinese cities during the period 2004–2014, analyzing spatiotemporal dynamics and influencing factors using a Spatial Autocorrelation Panel Data Model. The main results are as follows: From the spatial perspective, eco-efficiency in Chinese cities generally evidenced an M-shaped trend (increasing-decreasing-increasing-decreasing), and imbalanced spatiotemporal dynamics. Furthermore, the urban eco-efficiency generally presented a distinct convergence of HH cluster and LL cluster clubs, with the latter being the most dominant. From the regional point of view, there existed a decreasing trend in the efficiencies of cities, from eastern China to central and western China. In addition, we identified significant differences in the eco-efficiency of different cities in China, and the coefficient of variation of eco-efficiency showed a general decrease. The results of our estimation of the factors affecting urban eco-efficiency showed that the economic development level, the industrial structure, import and export trade, and the information level all had significant positive influence, and local government expenditure, social retail sales of consumer goods, and infrastructure all had a negative effect on urban eco-efficiency. This paper puts forward numbers of suggestions for ways to promote social, ecological, and economic development in Chinese cities, based on our findings. • China's city-level eco-efficiency were estimated using undesirable output SBM model. • Eco-efficiency in China presents significant spatial and temporal distribution characteristics. • Effects of socioeconomic development were explored using spatial autocorrelation panel data model. • Economic development, industrial structure, import and export trade had significant positive impact. • Local government expenditure, social retail sales of consumer goods, and infrastructure had a negative effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the worldwide interactions between income inequality and carbon emissions, and the nonlinear threshold roles of globalization, income inequality and economic growth. To fulfill this task, we propose a dynamic panel threshold model with cross-sectional dependence, based on a balance panel data of 92 countries over the period 1991–2015. The results suggest the presence of nonlinear effects of threshold variables, which have asymmetric impacts on the negative relationships between income inequality and carbon emissions. Further, we find that the promotion of globalization significantly contributes to reduce the effect of income unfairness improvement on the increase of carbon emissions, and this similar effect could also be achieved through shrinking income inequality per se and spurring economic growth. We therefore suggest the stakeholders keep working on pushing the reinforced trend of globalization when weighting the trade-offs between income inequality alleviation and carbon emission mitigation. • We propose a dynamic panel threshold model with cross-sectional dependence. • An emission-income balance panel of 92 countries over the period 1991–2015 is developed. • There exist significantly negative relations between income inequality and carbon emissions. • Nonlinear threshold effects are found in the interactions between carbon and income inequality. • Economic development and reinforced trend of globalization should be put on top agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon-emission transfer between two representative developing economies - China and Africa - behind the international trade has aroused quite a few controversies, which have not been fully estimated and understood yet. In this paper, the Multiregional Input-Output (MRIO) method is applied to the participants of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) from the global perspective to reveal the roles both China and Africa have played in the global supply chain as either the original emitter or the final consumer, and to depict the evolution pattern of carbon transfer via Sino-Africa trade from the year 2000–2015. The findings are as follows: 1) China has played the role of net exporter of embodied carbon-emission in Sino-Africa trade, for the amount of emitted carbon China had born yet resulted by consumption in Africa well surpassed that vice versa. 2) Compared to the carbon-emission flows embodied in EU-Africa and US-Africa trades, China has shouldered more carbon-emission derived from Africa's consumption. 3) The sectoral contribution and intensities of embodied carbon-emission correspond to the trading pattern between China and Africa, which stems from the two parties' comparative advantages and economic complementarity. 4) The intensities of embodied carbon-emission on both sides are declining towards a rosy prospect, which indicates an improving carbon-emission efficiency of both economies. From a global perspective, both China and Africa play a positive part in carbon-emission reduction. The results in this study can facilitate low-carbon and high-efficiency trading link between the two economies. • Historical trend of embodied carbon transfer between China-Africa Forum participants is explored. • Carbon-emission in China related to Africa's consumption well surpassed that vice versa. • Sino-Africa trade has relieved the carbon-emission pressure on Africa's economic development. • Sectoral contribution of embodied carbon-emission reflects the complementarity between China and Africa. • Embodied carbon-emission intensities of both China and Africa have declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the growing literature regarding the role of Information and Communication Technologies as well as Innovation on driving the level of carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth in context of the 21st conference of the Parties to the Climate convention (COP21). Drawing the data from 13 selected G-20 countries (including Argentina, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States) during the period of 15 years, our study achieves significant results. First, only five factors impede the carbon emissions namely energy price, foreign direct investment, technology, spending on innovation and trade openness while the remainder of determinants contribute to contamination of environment, including financial development. Second, when it comes to economic growth, information and communication technological and financial development are positive driving factors. Our results do reject the absence of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) from our sample. Finally, our study empirically suggests that the work of controlling consumption of oil and environmentally friendly process including manufacture-trading in these economies will limit the amount of pollution. • GDP per capita, energy consumption and financial development lead to an increase in CO2 emissions. • The effects of FDI, trade openness, and oil prices on CO2 emissions are negative following the pollution-halo hypothesis. • There is a negative relationship between ICT, innovation and CO 2 emissions in these selected G20 countries. • To some extent, measures of ICTs and financial development tend to boost the economic growth in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economic development has entered a "new normal" stage where economic growth has slowed down. In this context, China's local authorities and industry circles are particularly concerned about the impact of emissions trading scheme (ETS), China's first major market-based approach to control greenhouse gas emissions, on competitiveness. This paper contributes to the thin empirical studies on this issue from the perspective of China's provincial industrial sub-sectors. We divide the industry of each province into 37 sub-sectors and screen the actual industrial sub-sector coverage of China's pilot ETSs. Taking advantage of the rich information of sub-sector characteristics and the longitudinal structure of our dataset over 2005–2015, we use a combination of propensity score matching technique and difference-in-difference models to analyze the impact of China's pilot ETSs on gross industrial output value (GIOV) and employment. Empirical results indicate that China's pilot ETSs have exerted a negative impact on the GIOV, and production cut is still the major approach to achieve carbon emission reductions. We also find China's pilot ETSs have led to a significant decrease in employment of the covered industrial sub-sectors. Several robustness checks confirm our findings. Further, our discussions suggest that in the short term, China's pilot ETSs have not promoted the "decoupling" of carbon emissions and economic outputs in industrial sub-sectors. While achieving carbon emission reductions, the pilot ETSs have failed to avoid a negative impact on competitiveness. Lastly, we suggest that competent authorities should prudently tailor the quota allocation methods according to sectorial conditions and consider setting up compensation measures, and covered enterprises should incorporate low-carbon development concept and address the challenges proactively from the long run. • China's pilot ETSs reduced the gross industrial output value of covered sub-sectors. • China's pilot ETSs decreased the employment of the covered industrial sub-sectors. • China's pilot ETSs did not decouple economic outputs from carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities are the center of human activity and the basic unit of policy design, they have become the focus of carbon dioxide reduction, especially metropolitan areas that are high energy consumers and carbon dioxide emitters in countries such as China. The fact cities differ in their levels of development and stages of industrialization points to the need for tailor-made low-carbon policies. This study is the first to consider cities' different phases of industrialization when analyzing city-level emission patterns and drivers, as well as the decoupling statuses between economic growth and their emission levels in China. The results of 15 representative cities at different phases of industrialization show that various decoupling statuses, driving factors and decoupling efforts exist among cities, and that heterogeneity among these factors also exists among cities at the same industrialization phase. For further decomposition, energy intensity contributed the most to emissions reduction during the period 2005 to 2010, especially for cities with more heavy manufacturing industries, whereas industrial structure was a stronger negative emission driver during the period 2010 to 2015. Based on those findings, we suggest putting into practice a diversified carbon-mitigation policy portfolio according to each city's industrialization phase rather than a single policy that focuses on one specific driving factor. This paper sets an example on emissions-reduction experience for other cities undergoing different industrialization phases in China; it also sheds light on policy initiatives that could be applied to other cities around the world. • LMDI is applied to identify emission drivers of different industrializing cities. • Energy intensity is the dominant driver of emission reduction in cities. • Industrial structure became more crucial in emission reduction after 2010. • Emission drivers vary among cities in different industrialization phases. • City-diversified emission reduction policy portfolios should be designed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For most developing countries, local government faces a trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection. The intentions towards having a better environment as the economy grows will trigger a shift in the priorities of local government from economy to environment at a certain level of economic development. To investigate the "pollute first, control later" path in China and how environmental regulation performs differently due to economic development, this paper develops a conceptual model to depict the nexus between economic growth and environmental improvement. A panel threshold model is estimated based on Chinese data from different spatial scales – 30 provinces and 105 environmental monitoring cities. The results validate the threshold of economic development of approximately CNY 90,000 GDP per capita, which represents the turning point for the local government priority change; such that only when it is exceeded does environmental regulation significantly reduce emissions. Until 2016, only 4 provincial districts and 35 prefecture-level cities have crossed the threshold, these being mostly in the more prosperous eastern coastal areas. The results emphasize the need to consider timeliness when evaluating the effectiveness of environmental regulation and highlight the importance of adopting differentiated governance. Moreover, the need to enhance the effectiveness of environmental regulation requires driving the change of local government's priority to the environment and strengthening the institutional capacity of environmental protection agencies. • A conceptual model of local government's goals of economic growth and environmental protection. • Panel threshold model to find the economic threshold of effective environmental regulation. • Environmental regulation is effective only if regional GDP per capita exceeds CNY 90,000. • Timeliness and differentiation should be considered for environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]