Atmospheric consequences of trade and human development: A case of BRIC countries

Özet

This paper looks into the causal association between economic growth, CO2 emission, trade volume, andhuman development indicator for Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC countries) during 1980e2013.Following a generalized method of moments (GMM) technique, we have found out that bidirectionalcausality exists between CO2 emissions and economic growth. Feedback hypothesis is supported betweenCO2 emissions and human development, trade volume and human development, economicgrowth, and human development, and CO2 emissions and trade volume. Apart from finding out theunidirectional association from trade volume to economic growth, this study also validated the existenceof Environmental Kuznets curve. Empirical findings of the study substantiate that the policymakers ofthe BRIC nations must focus on the green energy initiatives, either by in-house development or bytechnology transfer. This movement will allow them to control the ambient air pollution prevalent inthese nations.