Exploring the dynamic effects of shocks in monetary and fiscal policies on the environment of developing economies: evidence from the CS-ARDL approach

The literature review of ample body indicates that the majority of the studies rely on a single proxy, while exploring the determinants of environmental quality, that can produce misleading results. To subdue this exigency, the current study extends the literature by deploying three proxies (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions) for assessing the environmental quality. In this context, the current study links macroeconomic policies, economic growth, fossil fuel consumption, and renewable energy consumption with the environmental quality for selected developing countries from 1990 to 2017. The Westerlund cointegration test confirms the long-run association among the variables. The advanced econometric technique reveals the following findings. First, the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies degrade the environmental quality by escalating the ratio of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. However, the contractionary fiscal and monetary policies serve as an effective measure to mitigate the detrimental effects of greenhouse gases. Third, gross domestic product and fossil fuels exhibit a positive association with pollution. Fourth, renewable energy enhances the atmospheric quality by disrupting carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions. The Granger causality test is also employed to confirm the causal relationship between the variables. Based on the results, we claim that macroeconomic policies are highly sensitive to environmental quality; therefore, some important policies are suggested to attain sustainable and green development.

Automated summary

Most previous studies on the determinants of environmental quality have relied on a single proxy, while this study extends the literature by using three proxies and examines the effects of macroeconomic policies, economic growth, and energy consumption on environmental quality.