Are policy shocks to forest products footprint permanent or temporary? Evidence from 128 countries

Sustainable environmental policies are important for future generations to live in a more livable world. Therefore, the environmental damage of the policies implemented is expected to be minimized. In this way, the effects of environmental shocks can be temporary. Rather than analyzing ecological footprint as a deductive approach, analyzing the smaller components that cause ecological footprint will make a different contribution to the literature. For this reason, forest products footprint analysis affecting ecological footprint was investigated. In order to analyze the permanent or temporary nature of environmental shocks, forest product footprint, which is one of the variables used in the calculation of environmental damage, is used for 128 countries covering the period of 1961–2022. We used three different tests in this study. Firstly, the PANIC unit root test, which developed in 2003, secondly the PANIC with sharp breaks test, which developed in 2009 and finally the PANIC with dummy factor break unit root test, which developed in 2022, is used to calculate the permanent and temporary of shocks. According to results of the PANIC with dummy factor break unit root test with two breaks and without trend effect, environmental shocks have a permanent effect in 110 countries and in the model with trend effect, environmental shocks are permanent in 103 countries. In countries where policy shocks are temporary, permanent structural reforms are needed to prevent deforestation.