Environmental taxation and inclusive green growth in developing countries: does the quality of institutions matter?

The promotion of inclusive green growth is one of the most debated topics in international forums and is considered a major concern by all countries in the world. Although the existing literature has examined several determinants of inclusive green growth, the impact of environmental taxation on inclusive green growth is relatively little explored. This study is therefore the first attempt to examine the impact of the environmental tax on inclusive green growth for developing countries from 2000 to 2021. To do this, we apply the system generalised method of moments (GMM) that controls unobserved heterogeneity, heteroskedasticity, simultaneity, reverse causality and endogeneity. The empirical results show that environmental tax promotes inclusive green growth. In addition, our results indicate that the control of corruption, government efficiency, the quality of regulation and the rule of law interact with the environmental tax to promote inclusive green growth. Furthermore, this study reveals interestingly that the environmental tax has a positive impact on the two components of inclusive growth and green growth, but the institutional factors that accentuate the impact of the environmental tax are somewhat nuanced. The results of the study have important policy implications for decision-makers in developing countries in promoting inclusive and environmentally friendly growth. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024.