Assessing the Role of Macroeconomic Policy Tools in Addressing Environmental Degradation in Developing Countries
研究了15个发展中国家2002-2020年间财政和货币政策对生态足迹和碳排放的不同影响，发现扩张性财政和紧缩性货币政策能改善生态足迹但增加碳排放，建议以生态足迹衡量环境可持续性。
ABSTRACT This study investigates the counter cyclical role of fiscal and monetary policies in promoting environmental sustainability across 15 developing countries over 2002–2020. Specifically, the study focuses on the impact of government expenditures (GE) and real interest rates (IR) on both ecological footprint (EF) and carbon emissions (CO 2 ). Dynamic Seemingly Unrelated Regression method is used for estimating the coefficients. The findings reveal that expansionary fiscal policy (increase in GE) and contractionary monetary policy (increase in IR) contribute to preserving environmental quality, as measured by EF. Interestingly, when it comes to CO 2 , these macroeconomic policies appear to have a different effect, potentially impacting environmental quality negatively. These findings suggest that the effectiveness of these policies in achieving environmental sustainability shall be measured in terms of EF instead of CO 2 . In addition, empirical results highlight the significance of other variables, such as renewable energy use, GDP per capita, globalisation, and population, influencing the EF. Given the findings that expansionary fiscal policy (increased GE) and contractionary monetary policy (increased IR) both led to an increase in CO 2 while decreasing the EF, it is recommended that developing countries pursue these policies. The decrease in EF is a more comprehensive measure of environmental sustainability, encompassing broader aspects of human demand on nature and overall environmental impact.