Faculty of Economics and Administration, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
School of Economics, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Feb;30(8):22046-22062. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-23701-6. Epub 2022 Oct 25.
Despite the increasing size of the shadow economy worldwide, more particularly for developing economies, limited scientific attention has been devoted to exploring its diverse impacts, such as the harmful environmental issues that could arise from informal activities. This study aims to investigate ICT impacts of the shadow sector on the environment using two-step system GMM method for two panels of 57 developing and 34 developed nations, spanning the years from 1998 to 2015. Two measures for the dependent variable are used: CO emissions from transport activity and liquid energy demand. The size of the shadow economy and ICT are used as independent variables. The empirical evidence suggests four main results. First, the shadow economy harms the environment in the context of developed nations; however, it can reduce environmental degradation in developing economies. Second, ICT hurts the environment for all countries except telephone usage, which favors ecological quality in developing economies. Third, the association between ICT and the shadow economy positively affects the environment in developed countries, but it becomes very weak in developing ones. Fourth, the telephone is the most efficient technology for reducing air pollution in developed economies when adopted in the shadow sector. Public policy should encourage the adoption of new technologies in the shadow sector and the regularization of informal activities in developed economies to mitigate carbon emissions.
尽管全球范围内的影子经济规模不断扩大，尤其是在发展中经济体中，但科学界对其多样化的影响，如非正式活动可能带来的有害环境问题，关注有限。本研究旨在使用两步系统 GMM 方法，对两个面板（57 个发展中国家和 34 个发达国家）的 1998 年至 2015 年的数据进行研究，探讨影子部门对环境的信息通信技术（ICT）影响。使用两个因变量指标：交通活动产生的二氧化碳排放量和液体能源需求。影子经济和 ICT 的规模被用作自变量。实证结果表明了四个主要结果。首先，在发达国家，影子经济对环境有害；然而，在发展中经济体中，它可以减少环境恶化。其次，除了电话使用外，ICT 对所有国家的环境都有损害，而电话使用对发展中经济体的生态质量有利。第三，ICT 与影子经济之间的关联对发达国家的环境有积极影响，但在发展中国家则非常微弱。第四，在发达经济体中，当电话在影子部门被采用时，它是减少空气污染最有效的技术。公共政策应鼓励在影子部门采用新技术，并促进发展中经济体中非正式活动的正规化，以减轻碳排放。
