Investigation of the STIRPAT model of environmental quality: a case of nonlinear quantile panel data analysis

The determination in the quality of the environment is the outcome of increasing intensity and complexity of the economic activity. This predicament has gained attention leading to several research studies. This study adds on to the literature in estimating EKC within STIRPAT perspective. An investigation of 198 countries between 1990 and 2018 was assessed using Panel Quantile Regression. This study confirmed robust U-shaped EKC for the case of industry-, agriculture- and service-based affluence effect which denotes that over-reliance reap footprint and there is a need of aligning these real sectors sustainably. The quadratic function specification utilized helped this study to categorize sample countries in terms of sustainable or non-sustainable with respect to average affluence. Policymakers are urged to pursuit sustainable composition of real sector economic activity, which will help in increasing environmental quality.