The impact of human capital indicators on environmental welfare indicators. Türkiye example

The concept of human capital has not been fully defined in the literature for a long time. The concept of human capital entered the economic literature with Marshall, Smith and J. Stuart Mill. And they argued that economic growth belongs to people. Economists such as Schultz, Denison and Becker developed the concept of human capital that we use in our lives. The increase in the economic welfare level of countries emphasizes the importance of the concept of human capital. As the economic development of countries stagnates, the need for manpower, skills, education levels and technological developments increases with each passing year. For this reason, it is argued that human capital is the most basic means of production today. The interaction of the concept of human capital with ecological footprint, sustainable environmental welfare, carbon emissions and greenhouse gas emissions is also observed. Globally, environmental problems are one of the main reasons. The main source of these problems is the society itself. The aim of this study is to measure the effects of human capital indicators on ecological footprint, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon emissions, which are environmental welfare indicators. In the study, data for the 1980-2020 period for the ecological footprint model and 1990-2020 period for the greenhouse gas and carbon emission models were used. All three models are estimated with the ARDL bounds test approach. Keywords: Human Capital, Ecological Footprint, Sustainability, CO2 Emission