Have Air Pollutant Emissions Converged Among U.S. Regions? Evidence from Unit Root Tests

Abstract

Previous studies of income distribution have found evidence indicating that incomes across U.S. regions have converged, supporting the prediction of the neoclassical growth model. A potential shortcoming in these studies is that only one measure of well‐being is considered—a measure of wealth linked to incomes or production. This paper examines whether income convergence was accompanied by air pollutant emission convergence. Results from unit root tests provide some evidence that indicators of environmental quality have converged across U.S. regions during the 1929‐1994 period.

Exploring the driving mechanism and the evolution of the low‐carbon economy transition: Lessons from OECD developed countries

“…The convergence theory has been widely used in the energy‐environment research field as well, examining convergence in air pollutants (List, 1999), carbon emissions (Aldy, 2006; Barassi et al, 2008; Fernández‐Amador et al, 2019), energy intensity (Burnett & Madariaga, 2017), energy efficiency (Huang et al, 2018) and energy consumption (Hao & Peng, 2017). Stochastic convergence studies the temporal characteristics of regional disparity over time from a long‐term and dynamic perspective, usually examined by the panel unit root test.…”

EKC and the income elasticity hypothesis Land for housing or land for future?

“…In the last decades, many studies have investigated this relationship looking for certain regularity. Although with mixed results, many have focused on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (Aldy, 2006(Aldy, , 2007Balaguer and Cantavella, 2016;Jebli, 2016;Brock and Taylor, 2004;Ezcurra, 2007;Nguyen Van, 2005;Romero-Ávila, 2008;Westerlund and Basherwe, 2008), per capita SO2 and NOx emissions (Cole et al 1997;de Bruyn et al, 1998;Kaufmann et al, 1998;List, 1999;Panayotou, 1995). Others, together with the previous, tested for additional selected environmental indicators.…”

Convergence analysis of ammonia emissions by sector and fuel source in OECD countries from 1750 to 2019 using a new Fourier-centric wavelet approach

“…Other papers address the convergence of other pollution indicators, such as sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, as well as various components of the ecological footprints. List ( 1999 ) investigated the stochastic convergence of sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide in ten U.S. regions from 1929 to 1994 using a traditional unit root test. The empirical findings point to a convergence of the series.…”

“…Most of the existing studies have concentrated on the convergence of primary greenhouse gases, particularly CO 2 emissions (Payne 2020 ; Churchill et al 2018 ; Barassi et al 2018 ; de Oliveira and Bourscheidt 2017 ; and Strazicich and List 2003 ). The convergence of sulfur oxide emissions (SO 2 ) has received relatively little attention in the extant literature (Solarin and Tiwari 2020 ; Payne et al 2014 ; List 1999 ). Papers on ecological footprints’ convergence are also available (Ulucak and Apergis 2018 ; Solarin et al 2019 ; Ulucak et al 2020 ).…”