The political-economic causes of change in the ecological footprints of nations, 1991–2001: A quantitative investigation

This study tests a series of hypotheses concerning the political-economic causes of change in per capita consumption-based environmental impacts. To test the hypotheses, panel regression analyses are conducted to assess the effects of level of economic development, export intensity, domestic economy structure, and other factors on growth in per capita ecological footprints of nations, 1991–2001. Analyses confirm multiple hypotheses: more-developed nations and those with a greater intensity in the services sector experience higher increases in per capita footprints, while manufacturing intensity and export intensity are inversely related to growth in consumption-based impacts. The findings support key tenets of treadmill of production theory, uneven ecological exchange theory, export dependence theory, and world-systems theory.