Abstract
The main purpose of this paper is to study the effects of CO2 emissions on the human development index (HDI). Studies in this area currently show little signs of reaching any unanimity among researchers as there are two strong opposing theories that stand against each other. The first confirms that the HDI is affected negatively by CO2 emissions, while the second supports that increased human development is still recorded in the most polluting countries (those that emit the most, but may not see the effects as immediately in their own countries). From a sample of eight countries and through the employment of the ARDL model, we have shown that results converge much more toward the second point of view. Indeed, from our sample, we noticed that in the long term, the USA, the UK, and Morocco are in the model that promises human development through polluting growth. Similarly, the rentier countries, despite the awareness displayed by some of them of the need to grow ecologically, can no longer divest themselves of their traditional sources of wealth generation given the loss of earnings that they will sacrifice. Worse still, in the long term, the results showed that hegemonic countries like the USA, UK, Norway, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) continue in their old polluting models.
Résumé
L'objectif principal de cet article est d'étudier les effets des émissions de CO2 sur l'indice de développement humain (IDH). En fait ce type de travaux est loin de converger vers une unanimité parmi les chercheurs puisqu'il existe deux fortes théories opposées qui ne peuvent s'afficher ensemble. Les premiers confirment que l'IDH est affecté négativement par les émissions de CO2 tandis que les seconds soutiennent que le développement humain est encore enregistré dans les pays les plus pollueurs. A partir d'un échantillon de huit pays et en recourant au modèle ARDL nous avons montré que les résultats convergent beaucoup plus vers le second point de vue. En effet, à partir de notre échantillon, nous avons remarqué qu'à long terme, les États-Unis, le Royaume-Uni et le Maroc sont dans le modèle qui promet le développement humain par une croissance polluante. De même, les pays rentiers malgré la prise de conscience affichée par certains d'entre eux de la nécessité de croître écologiquement, ils ne peuvent plus se départir de leur richesse étant le manque à gagner qu'ils sacrifieront. Pire encore, à long terme, les résultats ont montré que des pays hégémoniques comme les États-Unis, le Royaume-Uni, la Norvège et l'Arabie saoudite continuent dans leurs anciens modèles de pollution.
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The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for funding this work through a large group research project under grant number RGP2/284/44.
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Fakhri, I., Alqahtani, M. & Jamee, A. Effects of CO2 Emissions on the Human Development Index: Application to the Case of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Other Developed Countries. J Knowl Econ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-023-01727-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-023-01727-6