Three essays on different dimensions of environmental economics

This thesis consists of three different essays on environmental economics. The first essay examines the effects of environmental taxes on carbon emissions. The study sample consists of PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) countries. Annual data between 1995 and 2020 were used in the study. According to the empirical findings obtained by applying Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and Common Correlated Effects (CCE) estimators, the effect of environmental taxes on carbon emissions is negative and statistically significant. In the second essay, using annual data between 1990 and 2020, the effects of green innovation on carbon emissions are examined within the framework of the STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology) model. The study covers the Eurozone countries (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Croatia, Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Greece). Two-Step System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and Fixed Effect Method (FEM) panel data techniques are used in the study. According to the empirical findings from the study, there is a negative and statistically significant relationship between green innovation and emissions. The last essay examines the effects of globalization on consumption-based carbon emissions within the framework of the Environmental Kuznet Curve hypothesis (EKC) using annual data from 1993-2020 for D8 (Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan) countries. For empirical application, Mean Group (MG) and Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimators and Dumitrescu & Hurlin (2012) causality test were used. According to the results obtained from both estimators, there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between globalization and consumption-based carbon emissions. Additionally, according to the causality test results of Dumitrescu & Hurlin (2012), there is a bidirectional causality relationship between globalization and consumption-based carbon emissions. All findings have a significant contribution to the countries involved in designing environmental policies.