Does skewed pattern of income distribution matter for the environmental quality? Evidence from selected BRICS economies with an application of Quantile-on-Quantile regression (QQR) approach

Abstract

Using annual data from 1980 to 2014, the study explores the relationship between carbon emissions and skewed pattern of income distribution among 4 selected BRICS economies (e.g. Brazil, India, China and South Africa). Using Quantile-on-Quantile regression (QQR) technique of Sim and Zhou (2015), it tries to contribute towards an empirical understanding on the quantile structure of both the variables for the selected BRICS countries. It finds for India and Brazil that as income rises, although both lower and upper income people degrade the environmental quality by releasing more CO2 emissions but interestingly, it is the poor who intensively degrade the environmental quality than the rich. In sharp contrast, for China and South Africa, it finds that it is the poor who relatively contribute less to the environmental degradation by reducing CO2 emissions than the rich. These findings have greater policy significances which are discussed at the concluding section in greater detail.