Investigation of economic and financial determinants of carbon emissions by panel quantile regression analysis: the case of Visegrád countries

Abstract

This study determines the impacts of gross domestic product, domestic bank credits given to private sector, and military expenditures on carbon emissions based on 1990–2019 time period. The panel quantile regression approach is applied for the Visegrád group countries. Our empirical results reveal that domestic bank credit given to private sector has a positive and meaningful impact on carbon emissions at medium and high quantile levels. On the other hand, it has been determined that gross domestic product has a reducing impact on carbon emissions, but military expenditures have an increasing impact on carbon emissions. Besides, as consequences of such tests, the difference between the quantiles, that is, the heterogeneous structure was revealed. A separate model was created with a different panel quantile approach for robustness control, and the results were compared by giving different values to penalty term. These results provide strong evidence for decision-makers and implementers.