The Impact of Globalization on The Ecological Footprint: Do Convergence Clubs Matter?

Abstract This paper investigates the impact of globalization on the ecological footprint for 130 countries over the period 1980-2016. To do so, we follow a two-step procedure. First, we analyze convergence in ecological footprint and identify possible convergence clubs across countries using a novel approach proposed by Phillips and Sul (2007). Then, we investigate the impact of globalization on ecological footprint using panel FMOLS (Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares) and panel DOLS (Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares) methods. The results show that globalization is significantly and positively related to the ecological footprint both for the full panel sample and for all convergence clubs. However, the impact of globalization on ecological footprint significantly varies across convergence clubs and full panel sample. Furthermore, the findings show that the convergence club with the lowest impact of globalization on the ecological footprint is the closest club to the panel average.