Time-Varying Convergences of Environmental Footprint Levels between European Countries

This study proposes the time-varying nonlinear panel unit root test to investigate the convergence of ecological foot prints between the EU and candidate countries. Sixteen European countries (such as Albania, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Turkey) and analysis periods are selected according to data availability. This study proposes a cross-sectional Panel KSS with Fourier to test the convergence of the ecological footprints. Then, we combine this methodology with the rolling window method to take into account the time-varying stationarity of series. This study evaluated sub-components of ecological footprints separately and provided more comprehensive findings for the ecological footprint. According to empirical findings, this study proves that convergence or divergence does not show continuity over time. On the other side, this study points out the presence of divergence draws attention when considering the properties of the sub-components in general. As a result, this study shows that international policies by EU countries are generally accepted as successful to reduce ecological footprint, but these are not sufficient as expected. In this point, it is suggested to keep national policies to support international policies in the long term.

Automated summary

This study utilizes a time-varying nonlinear panel unit root test and rolling window method to analyze the convergence of ecological footprints between EU countries and candidate countries. The results show that there is no continuity in the convergence or divergence of ecological footprints over time. The study suggests that candidate countries exhibit divergence when considering the properties of ecological footprint sub-components, and it recommends maintaining national policies to support international policies in the long term.