Examining the Effects of Labor Productivity on Air Pollution in a Changing Climate
- 1 Department of Golden-Ager Industry Management, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung
- 2 Department of Business Administration, National Formosa University, Yunlin
Abstract
This paper investigates the nonlinear effects of labor productivity on air pollution in the context of climate change, using a dataset of 52 countries over the period 1971-2015. The analysis reveals a threshold effect on CO 2 emissions, indicating that the influence of labor productivity and income on emissions varies based on temperature regimes. Our findings show that in the non-high temperature regime, the coefficient for labor productivity is significant and negative at the 5% significance level, suggesting that CO 2 emissions decrease as labor productivity increases. This emphasizes the role of labor productivity in reducing emissions in cooler climate conditions. Additionally, the coefficients for GDP and its squared term are both positive and significant at the 5% level, indicating that higher GDP is associated with increased CO 2 emissions. The positive and significant coefficient for lagged CO 2 emissions further suggests a persistence in emissions over time, reinforcing the cumulative impact of economic activity on environmental degradation.
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