Examining the Relationship Between Economic Growth, Trade Openness and Ecological Footprint: Evidence from Turkey

Abstract

While economic development is important for the welfare level of countries, its impact on environmental degradation emerges as an important problematic. On the other hand, the growth that occurs as a result of environmentally sensitive production processes can also reduce environmental degradation. The contribution of globalizing economies to environmental degradation is discussed in many aspects in the literature. In this context, in order to examine today's complex economic relations and their effects on environmental degradation, this study aims to test the validity of the environmental Kuznet curve hypothesis and the relationship between ecological footprint and trade openness in Turkey. Using the ARDL methodology, both the short-run and long-run effects of the variables on each other are analyzed between 1965 and 2022, which is the time period analyzed by the study. Moreover, a cointegration test was conducted using bound test approach to assess the long-run equilibrium relationship between ecological footprint and trade openness. The findings indicate that there is an inverted “U” shaped relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation. Thus, it is observed that increasing economic growth increases environmental degradation in the first stage but decreases environmental degradation in the later stages. In addition, while it is found that trade openness has a negative impact on ecological footprint in the long run, no significant relationship is found in the short run.

Keywords

• Ecological footprint
• environmental kuznet curve
• trade openness
• ARDL

Ekonomik Büyüme, Ticari Açıklık ve Ekolojik Ayak İzi Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesi: Türkiye’den Kanıtlar

Abstract

Ekonomik gelişme ülkelerin refah seviyesi için önem teşkil ederken çevresel bozulmaya olan etkisi önemli bir sorunsal olarak ortaya çıkmaktadır. Diğer taraftan, çevreye duyarlı üretim süreçleri sonucunda meydana gelen büyüme çevresel bozulmayı azaltıcı etkilerde gösterebilmektedir. Küreselleşen ekonomilerin çevresel bozulmalara olan katkısı literatürde birçok yönüyle tartışılmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, günümüz kompleks ekonomik ilişkilerin ve bunların çevresel bozulmaya olan etkilerinin incelenebilmesi amacıyla bu çalışma çevresel Kuznet eğrisinin geçerliliğini, ekolojik ayak izi ile ticari açıklık arasındaki ilişkiyi Türkiye özelinde test etmeyi amaçlamıştır. Çalışmanın incelediği zaman dilimi olan 1965 ve 2022 yılları arasında, ARDL metodolojisi kullanılarak değişkenlerin hem kısa hem de uzun dönemli birbirlerine olan etkisi incelenmiştir. Ayrıca, ekolojik ayak izi ile ticari açıklık arasındaki uzun vadeli denge ilişkisini değerlendirmek için sınır testi yaklaşımı kullanılarak eşbütünleşme testi gerçekleştirilmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular, ekonomik büyüme ile çevresel bozulma arasında ters "U" şeklinde bir ilişki olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Böylelikle, artan ekonomik büyümenin ilk aşamada çevresel bozulmayı arttırdığı ama sonraki safhalarda çevresel bozulmayı azalttığı gözlemlenmiştir. Ek olarak, ticari açıklığın uzun dönemde ekolojik ayak izini negatif yönde etkilediği bulgusu elde edilirken; kısa dönemde anlamlı bir ilişki tespit edilememiştir.

Keywords

• Ekolojik ayakizi
• çevresel kuznet eğrisi
• ticari açıklık
• ARDL

References

1. Adebayo, T. S., Sevinç, H., Kirikkaleli, D. (2023). A wavelet-based model of trade openness with ecological footprint in the MINT economies. Energy & Environment, 35(4), 2178-2197
2. Aktürk, E., Gültekin, S. (2023). Gelir Eşitsizliği ve Ticari Açıklığın Ekolojik Ayak İzi Üzerindeki Etkisi: Türkiye Örneği. Paradigma: İktisadi ve İdari Araştırmalar Dergisi, 12(1), 1-17.
3. Al-Mulali, U., Özturk, İ. (2015). The effect of energy consumption, urbanization, tradeopenness, industrial output, and the political stability on the environmental degradation in the MENA (Middle East and North African) region. Energy, 84, 382-389.
4. Alola, A. A., Bekun, F. V., Sarkodie, S. A. (2019). Dynamic impact of trade policy, economic growth, fertility rate, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on ecological footprint in Europe. Science of The Total Environment, 685, 7002-7009.
5. Aydin, M., Turan, Y. E. (2020). The influence of financial openness, trade openness, and energy intensity on ecological footprint: revisiting the environmental Kuznet curve hypothesis for BRICS countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 43233–43245.
6. Destek, M. A., Sarkodie, S. A. (2019). Investigation of environmental Kuznet curve for ecological footprint: The role of energy and financial development. Science of the Total Environment, 650, 2483–2489.
7. Destek, M. A., Sinha, A. (2020). Renewable,non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness and ecological footprint: Evidence from organisation for economic Co-operation and development countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 242(118537).
8. Gillani, S., Syed, H., Abbas, M. (2023). Impact of government expenditures, foreign direct investment, trade openness, and energy consumption on ecological footprints in selected Asian economies. Environment, Development and Sustainability.

9. Gülmez, A., Özdilek, E., Türkseven, D. N. (2021). Ekonomik Büyüme, Ticari Açıklık Ve Enerji Tüketiminin Ekolojik Ayak İzine Etkileri: G7 Ülkeleri İçin Panel Eşbütünleşme Analizi. International Academic Journal, 5(2), 329-342.
10. Haq, I. u., Khan, D., Hassan Taj, P. A., Abbas, A., Khalid, M., Awais, M. (2021). Agricultural exports, Financial Openness and Ecological Footprints: An Empirical Analysis for Pakistan. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 11(6), 256-261.
11. Jiang, S., Mentel, G., Shahzadi, I., Jebli, M. B., Iqbal, N. (2022). Renewable energy, trade diversification and environmental footprints: Evidence for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Renewable Energy, 187, 874-886.
12. Kongbuamai, N., Zafar, M. W., Zaidi, . S.A.H., Liu, Y. (2020). Determinants of the ecological footprint in Thailand: the influences of tourism, trade openness, and population density. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 40171–40186.
13. Kuznet, S. (1955). Economic Growth and Income Inequality. The American Economic Review, 45(1), 1-28.
14. Lu, W.-C. (2020). The interplay among ecological footprint, real income, energy consumption, and trade openness in 13 Asian countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 45148–45160.
15. Ma, S., Dai, J., Wen, H. (2019). The influence of trade openness on the level of human capital in China: on the basis of environmental regulation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 225, 340-349.
16. Okelele, D. O., Lokina, R., Ruhinduka, R. D. (2022). Effect of Trade Openness on Ecological Footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa. African Journal of Economic Review, 10(1), 209-233.
17. Pata, U. K., Ertugrul, H. (2023). Do the Kyoto Protocol, geopolitical risks, human capital and natural resources affect the sustainability limit? A new environmental approach based on the LCC hypothesis. Resoruces Policy, 81.
18. Pesaran, M., Shin, Y. (1998). An Autoregressive Distributed Lag Modelling Approach to Co-integration Analysis. S. Strom (Edt), Econometrics and Economic Theory: The Ragnar Frisch Centennial Symposium. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
19. Pesaran, M., Smith, R. (1998). Structural Analysis of Cointegrating VARs. Journal of Economic Survey, 471-505.
20. Pesaran, M., Shin, Y., Smith, R. (2001). Bounds Testing Approaches to the Analysis of Level Relationships. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 16(3), 289-326.
21. Sabir, S., Gorus, M. S. (2019). The impact of globalization on ecological footprint: empirical evidence from the South Asian countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26, 33387-33398.
22. Sharifa, A., Barış-Tuzemen, Ö., Uzuner, G., Özturke, İ., Sinha, A. (2020). Revisiting the role of renewable and non-renewable energy consumptionon Turkey’s ecological footprint: Evidence from Quantile ARDL approach. Sustainable Cities and Society, 57(102138).
23. Wang, W., Rehman, M. A., Fahad, S. (2022). The dynamic influence of renewable energy, trade openness, and industrialization on the sustainable environment in G-7 economies. Renewable Energy, 198, 484-491.
24. Wiedmann, T., Lenzen, M. (2018). Environmental and social footprints of international trade. Nature Geoscience, 11, 314–321.
25. Yılancı, V., Görüş, M. S., Aydin, M. (2019). Are shocks to ecological footprint in OECD countries permanent or temporary? Journal of Cleaner Production, 212, 270-301.