Investigating the dynamic relationship between CO2 emissions, health care costs and human development index in the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization: using panel vector autoregression approach
Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Assistant Professor Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
2 Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Economics, Management and Accounting, University of Sistan and Baluchestan
3 Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Economics, , University of Sistan and Baluchestan
Abstract
The aim of this research is to investigate the bidirectional relationship between healthcare costs, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and the Human Development Index (HDI). To achieve this, balanced panel data from 9 member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization for the period 2000-2020 were used, and panel vector autoregression was employed as the research method. The results showed that the largest share of the healthcare expenditure shock was due to its own shock with 63%, while the largest shares of the CO2 emission and HDI shocks over a 10-year period were related to research and development expenditures with 43% and 54%, respectively. Additionally, the shock of research and development expenditures, population growth, healthcare expenditures, and HDI had a significant negative impact on CO2 emissions, while the shocks of population growth, CO2 emissions, research and development expenditures, and HDI had a significant negative impact on healthcare expenditures. The shocks of CO2 emissions and population growth had a significant negative impact on HDI. There was a unidirectional relationship between healthcare expenditures and CO2 emissions, indicating that CO2 emissions significantly increase healthcare expenditures for Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries. Furthermore, healthcare expenditures and HDI showed a positive bidirectional relationship, as these variables reinforce each other, although there was bidirectional causality between CO2 emissions and HDI, indicating that CO2 emissions significantly increase human development in Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries. In this regard, it is recommended that measures such as improving HDI, increasing research and development expenditures, and reducing population growth should be taken to reduce CO2 emissions in member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
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