The Determinants of Forest Products Footprint: A New Fourier Cointegration Approach

Abstract

This study aims to determine the factors that affect the forest products footprint (FPF) in Brazil during the period 1965–2018 by proposing a new cointegration test which augments the Engle-Granger cointegration test with a Fourier function (Fourier Engle-Granger) and allows multiple structural breaks in the long-run relationship. Since the results of the unit root tests show that all variables are nonstationary, we applied the Fourier Engle-Granger cointegration test and revealed that there was a long-term relationship between the forest products’ footprint, energy consumption, gross domestic product, and trade openness. Although energy consumption was found to have a decreasing effect on FPF, the remaining variables were found to have a healing effect on FPF. Policymakers in Brazil should consider shifting energy consumption to clean energy sources and sustain international trade and economic growth in the current form to consider the FPF.