National Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Geography Matters

This article examines the role of geographical factors as determinants of cross-country differences in per capita carbon dioxide emissions. Such differences have been explained by economists mostly in terms of per capita income. Geographical factors on the other hand have been neglected by economic analysis. We examine the effects of cold and hot climates, transportation requirements and the availability of renewable energy sources on emissions. We find that with the exception of cooling requirements as measured by hot climates, all these geographical factors are statistically significant determinants of emissions in accordance with our expectation. Furthermore, cold climates and the availability of renewable resources are also substantively important.

[1]  Jeffrey M. Wooldridge,et al.  Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach , 1999 .

[2]  James K. Sebenius,et al.  Sharing the Burden , 1992 .

[3]  Martin Ravallion,et al.  Carbon Emissions and Income Inequality , 2000 .

[4]  N. Shafik.  Economic Development and Environmental Quality: An Econometric Analysis , 1994 .

[5]  T. Panayotou.  Economic Growth and the Environment , 2000 .

[6]  Energy needs and CO2 emissions Constructing a formula for just distributions , 1994 .

[7]  E. Neumayer.  Can Natural Factors Explain Any Cross-Country Differences in Carbon Dioxide Emissions? , 2010 .

[8]  Richard Schmalensee,et al.  World Carbon Dioxide Emissions: 19502050 , 1998, Review of Economics and Statistics.

[9]  Eric Neumayer,et al.  In Defence of Historical Accountability for Greenhouse Gas Emissions , 2000 .

[10]  Christopher Zorn.  Generalized Estimating Equation Models for Correlated Data: A Review with Applications , 2001 .

[11]  T. D. Mitchell,et al.  Climate data for political areas , 2002 .

[12]  Richer and Cleaner? A Study on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Developing Countries , 1999 .

[13]  G. Grossman,et al.  Economic Growth and the Environment , 1994 .

[14]  T. Selden,et al.  International Trade Intensity and Carbon Emissions: A Cross-Country Econometric Analysis , 2001 .

[15]  Marzio Galeotti,et al.  Richer and Cleaner? A Study on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Developing Countries , 1999 .

[16]  D. Holtz-eakin,et al.  Stoking the Fires? Co2 Emissions and Economic Growth , 1992 .