Energy consumption, income, and carbon emissions in the United States


Soytas U., Sari R., Ewing B. T.

ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS, vol.62, pp.482-489, 2007 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 62
  • Publication Date: 2007
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.07.009
  • Journal Name: ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.482-489
  • Keywords: energy consumption, carbon emissions, economic growth, Granger causality, generalized impulse, response functions, generalized variance, decompositions, ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE, IMPULSE-RESPONSE ANALYSIS, ECONOMIC-GROWTH, CO2 EMISSIONS, OECD COUNTRIES, TIME-SERIES, INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES, COINTEGRATION ANALYSIS, ECONOMETRIC-ANALYSIS, MULTIVARIATE MODELS
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of energy consumption and output on carbon emissions in the United States. Earlier research focused on testing the existence and/or shape of an environmental Kuznets curve without taking energy consumption into account. We investigate the Granger causality relationship between income, energy consumption, and carbon emissions, including labor and gross fixed capital formation in the model. We find that income does not Granger cause carbon emissions in the US in the long run, but energy use does. Hence, income growth by itself may not become a solution to environmental problems. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.