Assessing the Effects of Economic Structural Changes and Trade Openness on Ecological Sustainability: The Case of the MENA Region | ||
| Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology | ||
| Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 15 December 2025 PDF (582.52 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| Authors | ||
| Sahar Erfanian1; Elham Mehrparvar Hosseini2; Amir Hossein Chizari3; Hossein Noroozi* 3; Milad Aminizadeh4 | ||
| 1Business School, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang, China. | ||
| 2Agricultural Planning, Economic and Rural Development Research Institute, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. | ||
| 3Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Islamic Republic of Iran. | ||
| 4Department of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Islamic Republic of Iran. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Economic growth driven by unsustainable activities exerts increasing pressure on the environment, resulting in ecological degradation. While research on ecological sustainability in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region is expanding, the spatial effects of economic structural changes and trade openness on the ecological footprint remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining whether structural transformations in the economy and trade exert significant spatial direct and spillover effects on the ecological footprint across MENA countries from 2001 to 2021. For this purpose, we used Moran’s I test and applied fixed-effect SDM model. To ensure the findings, we checked the robustness of our results across alternative spatial models and other matrices. The results showed that there is significant positive spatial dependence in ecological footprints, indicating that a country’s ecological footprint is influenced by those of its neighbors. We find economic structural changes played an important role in reducing the ecological footprints, both directly and through spillover effects. Similarly, trade openness had a significantly negative impact on the ecological footprint; however, the spillover effect was not significant. The results of robustness checks confirmed the environmental impact of structural economic changes and trade openness are robust and not driven by model-specific assumptions. These findings underscore the need for MENA governments to prioritize economic restructuring and promote the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies through strategic trade policies and reduced trade barriers. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Ecological footprint, Economic structure, Spatial dependence, Spatial Durbin model, Trade openness | ||
| References | ||
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