Green Complexity Index and Air Pollution: An Analysis on NUTS 3 Regions in Turkey

Abstract

Increasing environmental concerns in the economic growth and development literature have led to the development of innovative approaches in researches on the relationship between economic development and environmental pollution. One of them is the concept of green product complexity. Based on the application of the economic complexity methodology to the green product lists of international organizations such as WTO, OECD and APEC, this approach is often used to test the relationship between green product complexity and environmental pollution at the country level. The number of studies on green product complexity at both country and regional level is still very few. From this point of view, the aim of the study is to calculate the Green Complexity Index for NUTS3 Regions in Turkey and to examine the relationship between this index and two air pollution indicators such as SO2 and PM10. In addition, the economic complexity index for non-green products has also been calculated in the study. According to the findings, there is no significant relationship between the Green Complexity Index and air pollution. It has also been shown in the study that provinces with high Green Product Complexity have high complexity values in non-green products.

Keywords

• Green Complexity
• Air Pollution
• Economic Complexity
• Environment

Yeşil Karmaşıklık Endeksi ve Hava Kirliliği: Türkiye’de Düzey 3 Bölgeleri Üzerine Bir Analiz

Abstract

Ekonomik büyüme ve kalkınma literatüründe artan çevresel kaygılar, ekonomik kalkınma ile çevre kirliliği arasındaki ilişkiye yönelik araştırmalarda yenilikçi yaklaşımların geliştirilmesine neden olmuştur. Bunlardan biri yeşil ürün karmaşıklığı kavramıdır. Ekonomik karmaşıklık metodolojisinin WTO, OECD ve APEC gibi uluslararası kuruluşların yeşil ürün listelerine uygulanmasına dayanan bu yaklaşım genellikle ülkeler düzeyinde yeşil ürün karmaşıklığı ve çevre kirliliği ilişkisinin test edilmesinde kullanılmaktadır. Yeşil ürün karmaşıklığı ile ilgili gerek ülke gerekse bölgesel düzeyde yapılan çalışmaların sayısı ise henüz çok azdır. Buradan hareketle, çalışmanın amacı Yeşil Karmaşıklık Endeksinin Türkiye’de Düzey 3 Bölgeleri için hesaplanması ve bu endeksin SO2 ve PM10 gibi iki hava kirliliği göstergeleri ile ilişkisini incelemektir. Bunun yanında çalışmada yeşil olmayan ürünler için de ekonomik karmaşıklık endeksi hesaplanmıştır. Bulgulara göre, Yeşil Karmaşıklık Endeksi ile hava kirliliği arasında anlamlı bir ilişki yoktur. Araştırmada ayrıca, Yeşil Karmaşıklık Endeks değeri yüksek olan illerin aynı zamanda yeşil olmayan ürünlerde de karmaşıklık değerinin yüksek olduğu görülmüştür. 

Keywords

• Yeşil Karmaşıklık
• Hava Kirliliği
• Ekonomik Karmaşıklık
• Çevre

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