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Abstract
Given the dual crises of climate change and rising economic inequality, it is imperative to improve the synergy between climate mitigation and income inequality reduction. Domestic income inequality is linked to nations' carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through multiple theorized pathways. Using a multidimensional framework, multiregional input–output analysis, panel regression analysis, and a sample of 34 high-income nations from 2004 to 2015, I investigate the relationships between nations' income inequality and four components of CO2 emissions with distinct implications for climate change mitigation: (1) emissions generated by domestic-oriented supply chain activities; (2) emissions embodied in exports; (3) direct emissions from end-user activities; and (4) emissions embodied in imports. I theorize that income inequality is heterogeneously related to the four emission components via different pathways. Results show that the relationships vary across emission components, change over time, and differ between inequality measures. The Gini coefficient is generally less influential on CO2 emissions than the income share of the top 10%. Notably, the income share of the top 10% is negatively related to direct end-user emissions from 2009 to 2011 and positively related to emissions in exports from 2011 to 2015, indicating variations in pathways both across emission components and over time—especially during and after the Great Recession. The findings underscore the multidimensionality in the income inequality-CO2 emissions relationship. Whether reducing income inequality can generate the co-benefit of emission abatement while avoiding a potential trade-off is a context-specific question that requires careful policy design and implementation.

This study proposes a multidimensional emissions profile (MEP) framework, aiming to analyze how a broad social force systematically and heterogeneously affects four emission components of nations: (1) emissions generated by domestic-oriented supply chain activities, (2) emissions embodied in imports, (3) emissions embodied in exports, and (4) direct emissions of end-user activities. I implement a multiregional input-output approach to operationalize these emission components. Using the MEP framework and dynamic fixed-effects models with the seemingly unrelated regression estimator, I find these four emission components are heterogeneously related to national affluence in high-income nations. As these nations become even wealthier, affluence is gradually decoupled from emissions generated by domestic-oriented supply chain activities and direct end-user emissions, yet it remains strongly coupled with the other two emission components in distinct ways. The findings demonstrate the MEP framework's utility and contribute a multidimensional perspective to the debate on the economic development–climate change relationship.

The macro-comparative decoupling literature has often sought to test the arguments made by the treadmill of production (TP) and ecological modernization (EM) theories. However, due to data limitations, these studies have been limited to analyzing the years after 1960. Given that both theories discuss historical processes operating before 1960, analyzing pre-1960 data is warranted to more comprehensively test the propositions made by both theories. We assess the long-term relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions from 1870 to 2014 using a sample of global North nations. We use Prais-Winsten regression models with time interactions to assess whether, when, and how much CO2 emissions have decoupled from economic growth over time. We find that significant relative decoupling has occurred twice since 1870: during the last 30 years of the nineteenth century, the timing of which is contrary to what both the EM and TP theories might expect, and after 1970. We also observe that the relationship remained relatively stable from the turn of the twentieth century to approximately 1970, which aligns with the arguments made by the classical TP work. We conclude that shifts in the global organization of production have shaped the magnitude of the economic growth–CO2 emissions relationship and its changes over time, which has implications for climate mitigation policy.

The authors examine the potentially asymmetrical relationship between economic development and consumption-based and production-based CO2 emissions. They decompose economic development into economic expansions and contractions, measured separately as increases and decreases in gross domestic product per capita, and examine their unique effects on emissions. Analyzing cross-national data from 1990 to 2014, the authors find no statistical evidence of asymmetry for the overall sample. However, for a sample restricted to nations with populations larger than 10 million, the authors observe a contraction-leaning asymmetry whereby the effects of economic contraction on both emissions outcomes are larger in magnitude than the effects of economic expansion. This difference in magnitude is more pronounced for consumption-based emissions than for production-based emissions. The authors provide tentative explanations for the variations in results across the different samples and emissions measures and underscore the need for more nuanced research and deeper theorization on potential asymmetry in the relationship between economic development and anthropogenic emissions.

Modeling asymmetric relationships is an emerging subject of interest among sociologists. York and Light advanced a method to estimate asymmetric models with panel data, which was further developed by Allison. However, little attention has been given to the large- N, large- T case, wherein autoregression, slope heterogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence are important issues to consider. The authors fill this gap by conducting Monte Carlo experiments comparing the bias and power of the fixed-effects estimator to a set of heterogeneous panel estimators. The authors find that dynamic misspecification can produce substantial biases in the coefficients. Furthermore, even when the dynamics are correctly specified, the fixed-effects estimator will produce inconsistent and unstable estimates of the long-run effects in the presence of slope heterogeneity. The authors demonstrate these findings by testing for directional asymmetry in the economic development–CO2 emissions relationship, a key question in macro sociology, using data for 66 countries from 1971 to 2015. The authors conclude with a set of methodological recommendations on modeling directional asymmetry.

AbstractIn this article, we review the theory of ecologically unequal exchange and its relevance for global environmental injustice. According to this theory, global political–economic factors, especially the structure of international trade, shape the unequal distribution of environmental harms and human development; wealthier and more powerful Global North nations have disproportionate access to both natural resources and sink capacity for waste in Global South nations. We discuss how the theory has roots in multiple perspectives on development, world‐systems analysis, environmental sociology, and ecological economics. We detail research that tests hypotheses derived from ecological unequal exchange theory on several environmental harms, including deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, and water pollution as well as related human well‐being outcomes. We also discuss research on social forces that counter the harmful impacts of ecologically unequal exchange, including institutions, organizations, and environmental justice movements. We suggest that ecologically unequal exchange theory provides an important global political–economic approach for research in environmental sociology and other environmental social sciences as well as for sustainability studies more broadly.

Hong Kong's return to the People's Republic of China in 1997 marked the beginning of a political transition that, if successful, will result in full democracy by 2020 (Ma 2008). Given that there are different levels of political trust in established and emerging democracies (Catterberg, Moreno 2005) and that regime changes itself exerts an influence on trust, this paper reports on a study that compares levels of political trust between two samples of Hong Kong's young people. The results indicated that more than ten years after Hong Kong's retrocession to China, some institutions were more strongly endorsed in 2009 than in 1999 but others registered a lower level of endorsement. Structurally it seems that 'political trust' is understood by both samples as a multidimensional construct that has a direct impact on the way they see their future citizenship responsibilities The implications of these results for both political theory and civic education are discussed.

Intro -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Introduction: A Twenty-First Century Public Environmental Sociology -- Broader Contributions -- Major Themes Across Chapters -- Part I: Inequality, Political Economy, and Justice -- Part II: Energy, Climate, and Health -- Part III: Culture, the State, and Institutions -- Part IV: Population, Place, and Possibilities -- Insights and Intended Impacts -- References -- Part I: Inequality, Political Economy, and Justice -- Chapter 2: Intersectionality and the Environment -- Introduction: What Is Intersectionality? -- Intersectional Socioecological Theoretical Traditions -- Gender and Development -- Ecofeminism and Feminist Political Ecology -- Postcolonial Feminism and Indigenous Studies -- Why Intersectionality Matters -- Risk and Vulnerability -- Democracy and Government -- Environmental Justice Movements -- Expanding Intersectionality and the Environment: Centering Marginalized Perspectives -- Queer Ecology -- Critical Animal and Plant Studies -- Methodological Considerations -- Intersectional Praxis -- Quantitative Methods -- Spatial -- Deepening Future Intersectionality and Environment Research -- References -- Chapter 3: Environmental Justice -- Introduction -- Environmental Justice Studies: Social Inequalities and Risk -- Movements for Environmental Justice, Food Justice, and Climate Justice -- Food Justice -- Climate and Energy Justice -- Theorizing Environmental Injustice and Social Difference -- Political Economic Approaches and Class Inequalities -- Critical Analyses of Race and Space -- Gender and Environmental Inequality -- New Directions and Key Emerging Concepts and Frameworks -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 4: Ecologically Unequal Exchange and Environmental Load Displacement -- Introduction -- Historical Roots -- Early Theory Development and Empirical Research -- Current Research.

Building on cornerstone traditions in historical sociology, as well as work in environmental sociology and political-economic sociology, we theorize and investigate with moderation analysis how and why national militaries shape the effect of economic growth on carbon pollution. Militaries exert a substantial influence on the production and consumption patterns of economies, and the environmental demands required to support their evolving infrastructure. As far-reaching and distinct characteristics of contemporary militarization, we suggest that both the size and capital intensiveness of the world's militaries enlarge the effect of economic growth on nations' carbon emissions. In particular, we posit that each increases the extent to which the other amplifies the effect of economic growth on carbon pollution. To test our arguments, we estimate longitudinal models of emissions for 106 nations from 1990 to 2016. Across various model specifications, robustness checks, a range of sensitivity analyses, and counterfactual analysis, the findings consistently support our propositions. Beyond advancing the environment and economic growth literature in sociology, this study makes significant contributions to sociological research on climate change and the climate crisis, and it underscores the importance of considering the military in scholarship across the discipline.