DOES HIGHER EDUCATION LEVEL MATTER FOR THE REDUCTION OF NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY DEMAND? INSIGHTS FROM THE WORLD'S LARGEST GREENHOUSE GAS EMITTERS.

This study examines the impact of higher education on primary energy consumption and non-renewable energy usage for the world's five largest greenhouse gas emitters, namely, China, the United States, India, Russia, and Japan. Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bounds testing approach to cointegration is employed to annual data series taken from the World Bank's World Development Indicators over the period 1971-2015. The empirical findings validate a U-shaped relationship between higher education and non-renewable energy for Japan, whereas higher education level increases it for China in the long run. Higher education level appears to discourage the usage of non-renewable energy in India and Russia in the long run, but not so effective. From a policy perspective, it urges governments of these economies to provide effective environmental education and knowledge to their people so that non-renewable energy usage would be lowered for a better environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]