Varying Vistas: Exploring the Uneven Impacts of World Society Integration on Cross-National Particulate Air Pollution Using Unconditional Quantile Regression

Within the neo-institutional theoretical framework, numerous studies have underscored the pivotal role of international non-governmental organizations (EINGOs) in driving global environmental changes. This paper delves into the varying effects of world society connections on air pollution across distinct pollution levels, challenging the assumption that the efforts of EINGOs uniformly reduce air pollution across the world. Using unconditional quantile regression (UQR) analysis, I examine the role of EINGOs in shaping ambient particulate matter pollution across different pollution quantiles from a sample of 158 countries between 1990 and 2015. The findings from this analysis indicate that the impact of world society ties is significant in nations with moderately low (20th and 30th) and moderately high (70th and 80th) levels of air pollution, with no effect in the middle and extreme ends of the pollution spectrum. These results suggest the overestimation of INGOs' ameliorative effects when applied globally. Identifying areas where EINGOs are effective allows for the development of targeted strategies tailored to the unique pollution challenges of different countries. By demonstrating that the impact of EINGOs on air pollution is heterogeneous and not equivalent across all nations, this study contributes to the ongoing debate surrounding their effectiveness on real-world environmental effectiveness.