Global Integration and the Carbon Intensity of Well-Being: A Cross National Analysis, 1990-2011

• In Event: 393 - Section on Sociology of Development Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Markets and Institutions

Abstract

I investigate the extent to which sociological theories of global integration help explain variation in countries’ carbon intensity of well-begin (CIWB) over time. The CIWB approach provides a way to simultaneously measure a country’s sustainability in terms of both environmental and human well-being. This concept represents a measure of how carbon intensely well-being is created within a nation-state. CIWB research is a burgeoning area of inquiry with much focus on the role of economic development, yet looking at the effects of trade is less explored for this topic. I evaluate theoretical propositions drawn from the political economic theory of ecologically unequal exchange. I utilize statistically rigorous longitudinal modeling techniques to analyze change over time in 81 countries for the period from 1990 to 2011. I find that while the main effect of economic integration is to reduce the CIWB of nations over time, this relationship is becoming less negative with time, especially for less developed countries, even becoming positive in the later years of the analysis; this indicates economic integration is becoming less sustainable in less developed countries. In terms of ecologically unequal relations of exchange I find evidence to support this theoretical perspective, especially at certain points in time, for less developed countries as the theory suggests. Improving our understanding of sustainability conceptualized as the CIWB of nations can assist us in better addressing global sustainability in an unequal system moving forward.

Author

• Jennifer E. Givens, Washington State University