Does income inequality increase the ecological footprint in the US: evidence from FARDL test?

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a great interest in identifying determinants of environmental degradation. Although the effects of many economic, social, and political factors on the environment have been studied, the evidence of the relationship between income distribution and the environment is still quite scant. Looking at previous studies, the effect of income distribution on carbon emissions has generally been examined. In the last two years, a new line of research has emerged that investigates the links between income distribution and ecological footprint. Therefore, we investigate the effect of income inequality on the ecological footprint also considering its components. In this study, Fourier ARDL and Fourier ADL (new econometric techniques) are utilized to determine the ecological footprint-income inequality nexus in the US covering the period 1965–2017. We included economic growth and energy consumption as explanatory variables in the model. In this context, the study is a pioneering study examining the impact of income inequality on the ecological footprint as an environmental indicator in the US. The empirical results of Fourier ARDL and Fourier ADL denote that income inequality, economic growth, energy consumption, ecological footprint, and its components (cropland, fishing ground, and carbon) are cointegrated. Besides, it is found that income inequality has a positive effect on ecological footprint and cropland. Results denoted that economic growth and energy consumption have a positive and significant effect on ecological footprint and cropland, fishing ground, and carbon footprint components.

Energy Inequality Indicators: A Comprehensive Review for Exploring Ways to Reduce Inequality

“…While many countries account for a significant share of global energy consumption, their utilization of renewable energy remains relatively low, indicating the need for greater adoption of sustainable energy practices [36]. However, achieving substantial reductions in energy use requires global cooperation and the implementation of effective policies.…”

“…On the other hand, a middle level of economic development and a higher income inequality exacerbate energy poverty in terms of affordability [32]. Similarly, the research by Uzar, U. and Eyuboglu, K (2022) suggests that the rise in the Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, significantly contributes to environmental degradation [36]. High levels of income inequality diminish ecological awareness among the population, as economic and future concerns take precedence over environmental issues.…”

“…Energy inequality has become a significant research topic due to its social, economic, and environmental implications. Researchers from a wide range of disciplines, including social sciences, economics, public policy, and even engineering, are now exploring different aspects of energy inequality, such as the factors that contribute to energy inequality, the economic and social impacts of energy inequality [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], the impact on health [13,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], the impact on vulnerable members of the society [24][25][26][27][28][29], the impact on environmental quality [30][31][32][33][34][35][36], and the policies and strategies that can help to promote energy access and equity. Recent advancements in data collection and analysis have also enabled researchers to better understand the magnitude and distribution of energy inequality across different regions and populations.…”

“…This systematic literature review has identified that various terms are used to address similar aspects of energy inequality (see Figure 1) [17], including energy poverty [9,14,18,20,21,26,32,37], energy insecurity [17,38], fuel poverty [39][40][41][42][43], environmental inequality [34], carbon inequality [44], and environmental degradation [13,31,36]. To achieve the objective of this study, which is to identify energy inequality dimensions and their indicators and explore ways to reduce them, it is crucial to establish a common understanding and terminology.…”

Studying the Role of Quality of Governance, Renewable Energy and External Monetary Assistance and Their Repercussions on the Ecological Footprint in the Context of Djibouti

“…Considering the availability of the data provided by the global ecological footprint, which is limited to 2018, the research therefore selects a period of twenty years. Researchers often incorporate the ecological footprint metric into their studies based on data availability, aligning it with other factors in terms of temporal congruence, ensuring that the timeframes of these variables are synchronized with the 'Ecological footprint' dependent variable (Ponce et al 2023;Kibria, 2023;Uzar & Eyuboglu, 2023). The comprehensive variable (Main variable) used to measure the global ecological footprint stands for the level of ecological footprint that human actions have on the environment Kihombo et al, 2021).…”