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Economic growth and environmental pollution in Myanmar: an analysis of environmental Kuznets curve

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Abstract

This empirical study examines the short- and long-run relationship between GDP as an economic growth indicator and CO2 emissions as an environmental pollution indicator in Myanmar by using annual time series data over the period of 1970–2014. It also carefully considered other proxies, such as trade openness, financial openness and urbanization, and structural breaks in the country. The fundamental objective of this study is to test the validity of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in the context of Myanmar. The dynamic estimates of the long- and short-term relationship among greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O), GDP, trade intensity, financial openness, and urbanization growth are built through an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The empirical findings indicate that there is positive short- and long-run relationship between CO2 and GDP and thus, no evidence of EKC hypothesis is found for CO2 in Myanmar. Nevertheless, the existence of the EKC is observed for CH4 and N2O. On the other hand, trade and financial openness have inverse relationship with CO2 emissions. These results demonstrate that trade liberalization and financial openness will improve the environment quality in Myanmar in the long run.

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Notes

  1. http://web.pdx.edu/~ito/Chinn-Ito_website.htm

  2. Cyclone Nargis is the worst natural disaster in Myanmar’s recorded history which struck the country in early May 2008. The disaster claimed 150,000 lives and effected 2.4 million people.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China

    Thiri Shwesin Aung

  2. Faculty of Economics and Accounting, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran

    Behnaz Saboori

  3. Faculty of Economics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Ehsan Rasoulinezhad

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  1. Thiri Shwesin Aung
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  2. Behnaz Saboori
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  3. Ehsan Rasoulinezhad
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Correspondence to Thiri Shwesin Aung.

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Aung, T.S., Saboori, B. & Rasoulinezhad, E. Economic growth and environmental pollution in Myanmar: an analysis of environmental Kuznets curve. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 20487–20501 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9567-3

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