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Green complexity, economic fitness, and environmental degradation: evidence from US state-level data

  • Applied Economics of Energy and Environment in Sustainability
  • Published:
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Abstract

Green production is one of the major debates as environmental degradation poses threats globally. The paper attempts to explore the relationship between green production and environmental quality by using Economic Fitness approach. We develop a Green Complexity Index (GCI) dataset consisting of 290 traded green-labeled products and Economic Fitness Index (EFI) for the US states between 2002 and 2018. We analyze the environmental performance of green production using the GCI and EFI data at the sub-national level. Findings indicate that exporting more complex green products has insignificant effects on local (i.e., sulfur dioxide, particulate Matter 10) and global polluters such as carbon dioxide, even accounting for per capita income. Yet, economic fitness has a significant negative impact on the emission levels implying that sophisticated production significantly improves environmental quality in the USA. The insignificant impact of GCI on environmental degradation suggests that green product classifications should incorporate the production and end-use stages of goods to limit the adverse environmental effects of green-labeled products.

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Data availability

This study used secondary data. Thus, all the data information with details is available in the “Data and Estimation Methodology” section.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey

    İbrahim Tuğrul Çınar

  2. Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Dumlupınar University, Kutahya, Turkey

    İlhan Korkmaz

  3. Department of International Trade and Finance, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Dumlupınar University, Kutahya, Turkey

    Muhammet Yunus Şişman

Authors
  1. İbrahim Tuğrul Çınar
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  2. İlhan Korkmaz
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  3. Muhammet Yunus Şişman
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Contributions

All authors have made significant contributions to this study.

Çınar, İbrahim Tuğrul: conceptualization, data curation, analysis, software, writing — review and editing.

Korkmaz, İlhan: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing — review and editing.

Şişman, Muhammet Yunus: conceptualization, supervision, literature review, writing — review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammet Yunus Şişman.

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Responsible Editor: Eyup Dogan

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Çınar, İ.T., Korkmaz, İ. & Şişman, M.Y. Green complexity, economic fitness, and environmental degradation: evidence from US state-level data. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 43013–43023 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19859-8

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