Investigating the pollution haven hypothesis in Ghana: An empirical investigation

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) in Ghana utilizing CO2 emission as an indicator of air pollution for the period of 1980-2012. Moreover, we utilized gross domestic product (GDP), GDP square, energy consumption, renewable energy consumption, fossil fuel energy consumption, foreign direct investment, institutional quality, urbanization and trade openness as its main determinants. To achieve the goals of this research, different time series models were established utilizing the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method. In addition to the fact that structural breaks are introduced into the estimation process, we contribute to the existing literature by focussing on a country that typifies the current scenario of increasing emission and foreign direct investment in the developing countries. The outcome of this research revealed cointegration which indicates the existence of long run relationship between the variables. Moreover, GDP, foreign direct investment, urban population, financial development and international trade have positive impact on CO2 emission, while institutional quality decreases emissions in Ghana. This indicates that PHH does exist in Ghana. A number of policy recommendations were provided for Ghana according to the results obtained.