CeBER Working Paper No. 2018-7
The Cycle of recycling and sustainable development. Evidence from the OECD Countries
The aim of this study is to analyse the circular linkages between recycling and economic development, where renewable energy plays an additional role in this process. We use a two-equation model, which describes a cumulative causation process with feedback effects, where recycling (among other growth inducing factors) is assumed to be important for sustainable economic development (given by the Human Development Index) and vice-versa. The system of simultaneous equations is estimated by 3sls, both in a static form and introducing dynamics into the model, for a panel of 28 OECD countries over the period 2004-2015. The empirical evidence suggests a strong relationship between the economic development level and the recycling rate with feedback effects, supporting the idea of a circular cumulative causation process driven mostly by higher human capital skills and, to a lesser extent, by innovation. Atmospheric pollution also stimulates the recycling process.