Carbon emissions, inequalities and economic freedom: an empirical investigation in selected South Asian economies

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze and empirically test the impact of Economic Freedom [(EF) measured by size of the government] and inequality on environmental pollutants in addition to macroeconomic variables like per capita GDP, governance indicators, etc. along with existence of non-linear (Kuznets) postulation between economic growth and per capita emissions. Design/methodology/approach The paper examines the select Asian nations' data attributes, first qualitatively using correlation data technique, followed by empirical testing using differenced Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM). Using the data of selected Asian countries for the period from 1981 to 2016, the authors have applied a dynamic panel technique. Findings The key findings that emerge from the study are as follows: first, there is weak evidence for the existence of the Kuznets curve based on the empirical results; second, the results indicate that increased EF (by lower government size) could enable to contain carbon emissions; third, there is a negative relationship between democracy and environmental quality (corroborating to the existing studies on carbon emissions); and fourth, there is a strong statistical evidence that increasing income inequality pairs with greater emissions in the middle range of Gini. Practical implications The paper conforms to the universally held conviction that government interventions are essentially less productive and the desirability of a reduced size of the government in realizing sustainable green growth with equity. Social implications In an era of liberalization and privatization, it is argued that the role of the government needs to be redefined if not necessarily truncated. Originality/value The current paper incorporates Gini (inequality measure) through its intercountry range dummies to study the differential effect of Gini on carbon emissions. Also, in some of the recent studies, distributional issues have surfaced explicitly in the discussion of income-climatic change relationship, but EF largely remains missing. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the same empirically.