The asymmetry of economic growth and the carbon intensity of well-being

ABSTRACT

A key concern when crafting sustainable development policy is maximizing the benefits that derive from economic growth, such as increases in life-expectancy, while also reducing the negative impact that such growth has on environmental systems. In order to explore such tradeoffs research in environmental sociology has focused on a measurement of socio-environmental intensity known as the carbon intensity of well-being (CIWB). We explore the asymmetrical relationship between economic activity and CIWB for 153 nations from 1961–2013, as well as the theoretical implications of such a relationship. We initially find that in developed nations economic growth has no significant relationship to CWIB, however, declines in economic activity do significantly reduce CIWB. In less developed nations we find that increases and decreases in economic development are both significantly associated to CIWB and have associations which are not distinguishable from one another in magnitude. In an attempt to better understand these differences, we take financial processes into account, finding that such considerations account for the finding of asymmetry. Taken together, the findings of this study demonstrate the importance of considering the possibility of directional asymmetry, as well as the theoretical implications of such asymmetry, when specifying statistical models for regression analyses.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon intensity of well-being; CIWB
• Asymmetry

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Richard York and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments in the course of carrying out this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Although some previous analyses exploring CIWB have used consumption-based emissions, we focus on production-based CO2 emissions because this variable captures a larger sample of nations and years. Furthermore, it has been noted that the largest contributor to consumption-based emissions in most countries is territorial emissions from domestic production (Peters, Davis, and Andrew 2012).

2. In order to address issues raised by Allison (2019) concerning inflated standard errors, we perform sensitivity analyses wherein all models presented below are constructed as generalized least square mixed effects regression analyses, as proposed by Allison (2019). As expected, standard error estimates are reduced, but the findings are not changed in any substantial way from those presented here.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patrick Trent Greiner

Patrick Trent Greiner is an assistant professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University. His research engages with the relationships among social structures, inequality, and environmental outcomes. He is also interested in the interface of resource management, biodiversity loss, environmental justice, and public policy.

Julius Alexander McGee

Julius Alexander McGee is an assistant professor of sociology at Portland State University. His research explores the relationship between inequality, climate change, and mass incarceration.