ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Reckonings of Environmental Efficiency
and Convergence in Asian-Pacific Region:
A Malmquist- Luenberger Approach
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1
School of Economics, University of the Punjab, Pakistan
2
School of Economics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Pakistan
3
Canberra Business School, University of Canberra, Australia
4
Department of Economics, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore
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Department of Economics, Lahore Leeds University, Pakistan
Submission date: 2023-03-03
Final revision date: 2023-05-06
Acceptance date: 2023-05-29
Online publication date: 2023-11-30
Publication date: 2024-01-22
Corresponding author
Atif Khan Jadoon
Department of Economics, University of the Punjab, Quaid E Azam Campus, Lahore, Department of Economics, New Campus,University of , 54590, Lahore, Pakistan
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(2):1173-1182
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ABSTRACT
The second wave of industrialization at the end of the last century brought the attention
of researchers to the effect of more energy usage and its effects on environmental degradation. It was also
highlighted in the 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals (2015) that environmental degradation
threatens humans’ well-being unless countries use environment-friendly production processes.
The present study has used the Malmquist- Luenberger Index (MLI) to estimate the environmental
efficiency of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region for the period 1990 to 2019. The estimated results showed
that the environmental efficiency of APAC countries declined by 0.36%, on average, in the studied
period. The results also highlighted that the Republic of Korea has the highest total factor productivity
(TFP) output growth rate in the APAC region. In contrast, Lao People’s DR and the Maldives have
the lowest TFP. Conditional, unconditional, and Club convergence tests are also tested for the APAC
region. The results also suggested that convergence in environmental efficiency is conditional on trade
openness, industrial growth, and energy prices. Some policies are also suggested for the APAC region
at the end of the study.