The Impact of Economic Complexity on Environmental Performance in the MENA Countries

In recent years, economic complexity has played an important role in explaining and revealing the latent facts of the difference in economic growth among the poor and rich countries. In this study, first the effect of economic complexity on environmental performance is investigated in 18 countries of Middle East and North Africa(MENA) using two-stage least squares regression(2SLS) method during 2002-2018. Then, the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis is examined in these countries. The results show an inverse and significant relationship between economic complexity index and environmental performance index, so that by increasing one unit of economic complexity index, environmental performance index decreases by more than 7 units. In addition, the results show that there is a positive relationship between per capita income and environmental performance index, while per capita income square has an inverse relationship with environmental performance index, so Kuznets hypothesis about these countries is not confirmed. Finally, the results indicate a positive relationship between population, urbanization, corruption control, agriculture and trade with environmental performance, while industrialization and education have a negative relationship with environmental performance in the MENA countries.