How Robust Are Social Structural Predictors of Carbon Dioxide Emissions? A Multiverse Analysis

ABSTRACT

Due to the many plausible decisions researchers can make during the scientific process, varying results can be obtained to research questions. In the environmental sociological literature, key theories and findings highlight how modernization, militarization, demographic factors, and globalization and trade influence carbon dioxide emissions. We use multiverse analysis to address how robust central findings in this literature are to model specification choices. Our results indicate that findings related to modernization and demographic factors are mostly robust, while those concerning militarization and globalization are more subject to model selection.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon dioxide emissions
• Cross-national analysis
• Multiverse analysis

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the editor and three anonymous reviewers for their feedback and comments on prior versions of this manuscript. We also appreciate the feedback received from a talk based on an earlier version of this project given to the University of Oregon's Sociology Colloquium.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicholas Theis

Nicholas Theis is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oregon interested in environmental sociology, environmental justice, social network analysis, and computational social science.

Richard York

Richard York is Director and Professor of Environmental Studies and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Oregon. He has published numerous articles and books about issues in environmental sociology, animal studies, and the history, philosophy, and sociology of science.