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Does technology advancement reduce aggregate carbon dioxide emissions? Evidence from 66 countries with panel threshold regression model

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Abstract

The influence of technology advancement on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is complex and controversial, yet existing literature ignores the level of economic development in regard to its influential effect. With the panel threshold regression model, this research investigates the marginal and non-linear impacts of technology advancement on CO2 emissions along with the changes of economic development and presents the heterogeneity between different countries. The results are as follows: First, technology advancement and CO2 emissions have a non-linear inverted U-shaped relationship, which is significantly affected by different levels of economic development. When economic development exceeds a certain threshold, the impact turns from positive to negative. Second, the impact varies remarkably among different countries. We provide evidence for inverted U-shaped and N-shaped correlations in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and high-income countries (non-OECD), respectively. Although technology advancement always promotes CO2 emissions in middle- and low-income countries, its marginal effect is decreasing. This study not only indicates the dynamic impacts of technology advancement on CO2 emissions in different countries, but also contributes to policymakers’ understanding of the “common but differentiated responsibilities” involved in mitigating CO2 emissions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Editor and the five anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions.

Funding

This study has received financial support from the Humanities and Social Sciences Key Research Base Project of Universities in Jiangxi Province (JD19106) and China Scholarship Fund of Study Abroad Program (201906825038). Chien-Chiang Lee is grateful to the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province of China for financial support through Grant No. 20202BAB201006 and the Jiangxi Humanities and Social Sciences Project of University (NO. JJ20125).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management & Economics, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China

    Ruzi Li, Yaobin Liu & Chien-Chiang Lee

  2. Business School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Lin Lin

  3. School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics, Hangzhou, China

    Lei Jiang

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  1. Ruzi Li
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  2. Lin Lin
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Contributions

Five authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis, and manuscript. Ruzi Li is responsible for conceptualization, investigation, and writing of the original draft and analysis; Lin Lin is responsible for software and data curation; Lei Jiang is responsible for the paper’s visualization; Yaobin Liu is responsible for its visualization and supervision; Chien-Chiang Lee is responsible for the investigation, analysis, and corresponding author.

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Correspondence to Chien-Chiang Lee.

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Table 11 List of sample countries
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Li, R., Lin, L., Jiang, L. et al. Does technology advancement reduce aggregate carbon dioxide emissions? Evidence from 66 countries with panel threshold regression model. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 19710–19725 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11955-x

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