Abstract:

The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether militarization activities have caused environmental pollution in the MENA region between 1995 and 2018. To this end, the two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) was used. The dependent variable of the study is CO2 emissions, which represents the environmental pollution. The main independent variable of the study was chosen as the ratio of military expenditures to GDP, which represents military activities. Other independent variables used in the study are economic globalization index, natural resource abundance, GDP per capita, trade openness, and total capital formation. According to the study results, a significant positive relationship exists for CO2 emissions with the ratio of military expenditures to GDP, natural resource abundance, GDP per capita, and trade openness; a significant negative relationship exists for CO2 emissions with economic globalization and total capital formation. According to these results, having military expenditures reduced, fossil energy consumption replaced with renewable energy, and policies made that promote economic growth as well as environmental sustainability are crucial for reducing CO2 emissions.

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