Analyzing Persistence Degree of Shocks to Co2 Emission of U.S. States : Application of Linear and Nonlinear Fourier Quantile Unit Root Tests

Over recent decades, various USA government regulations and incentives, at both federal and state levels, encourage the development of green energy sources and the reduction of CO 2 emissions. In this paper, we investigate the degree of persistency of shocks to CO 2 per capita series in 50 states of the USA using two newly developed versions of the quantile unit root test over the period 1960-2018. Our results indicate while the shocks altered long-run equilibrium levels of most CO 2 per capita series over the period, only huge positive and negative shocks exhibited permanent effects on per capita CO 2 emissions. These results have important policy implications for policymakers at both federal and state levels