Eco-innovation vs. environmental taxation: what is more effective for state budget?

Abstract

The article is devoted to the comparative analysis of the use of environmental taxes and the introduction of environmental innovations in terms of impact on the parameters of revenues and expenditures of the state budget. The study includes 10 countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovak Republic). The analysis period covers 2010–2019. Systematization of scientific research proves the importance of using different tools to ensure sustainable development and greening of the national economy. The main purpose of the study is to determine a more effective form of interaction between government and business in the process of transforming the national economy in the direction of more environmentally friendly products and technologies by economic and mathematical modeling of environmental taxes and eco-innovation impact of budget revenues and expenditures. The calculations consist on the several stages: 1) determining the list of relevant control variables using correlation analysis, which eliminates the problem of multicollinearity; 2) determination of the model specification (fixed or random effects) using the Hausman test; 3) identification of the generalizing effects of the impact of environmental taxation and the eco-innovation index on the indicators of budget revenues and expenditures using a generalized least squares panel regression model with random effects; 4) study of the impact of the main components of environmental taxes and components of the eco-innovation index on the parameters of the state budget using panel regression modelling; 5) determination of short-term and long-term effects of the impact of environmental taxes and eco-innovations on the parameters of budget revenues and expenditures bt auto-regression distributive lag modelling. Stata 12/SE software tools were used for calculations. The study indicates the need to transform approaches to the implementation of state environmental policy. Thus, it has been proven that government incentives for the introduction of environmental innovations in the economy can be more effective than increasing the burden of environmental taxes.