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Educational attainment and environmental Kuznets curve in China: an aggregate and disaggregate analysis

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Abstract

The primary focus of this study is to evaluate the impact of various levels of education on CO2 emissions in China. Moreover, the study also tested the EKC hypothesis for different levels of education and economic development. The analysis employed disaggregate and aggregate data for education that included enrollment at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels and the average year of schooling. For empirical analysis, we employed an error correction model and bounds testing approach to cointegration. The results of the study provided some useful information both in the short and long run. All the proxies of education positively impact CO2 emissions at the initial level both in the short and long run; however, when we take the square of these variables, the effects of education on CO2 emissions become negative. Similarly, the impact of economic growth on CO2 emissions is positive in the short and long run, and the square of economic growth on CO2 emissions is negative, supporting the EKC hypothesis. China should increase investment in human capital that promotes green growth and environmental quality.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Major projects of Hebei Provincial Department of Education: Research on the development and innovation of modern agriculture in poor areas of Hebei Province from the perspective of economic and technological cooperation (ZD201713).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding Hebei, 071000, China

    Yuanpei Cui, Zikun Wei & Qinglin Xue

  2. Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Islamabad, Pakistan

    Sidra Sohail

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  1. Yuanpei Cui
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  2. Zikun Wei
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  3. Qinglin Xue
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  4. Sidra Sohail
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Contributions

This idea was given by Yuanpei Cui. Yuanpei Cui, Zikun Wei, and Qinglin Xue analyzed the data and wrote the complete paper, while Sidra Sohail read and approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Qinglin Xue or Sidra Sohail.

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Cui, Y., Wei, Z., Xue, Q. et al. Educational attainment and environmental Kuznets curve in China: an aggregate and disaggregate analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 45612–45622 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19051-y

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