R P Thombs
Biographic Data
| ID | 35919 |
|---|---|
| NAME | R P Thombs |
| GIVEN NAMES | R P |
| FAMILY NAME | Thombs |
| SIGNATURE | THOMBS R P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Boston College |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8823-6143 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 156 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Does renewable energy production displace fossil fuel production in the U.S.? A panel data study of fossil fuel–producing U.S. states, 1997–2020
Visualizing the Spatial Distribution of Aging Places in the United States, 2000 to 2020
Population aging has important sociological implications at the community level, including reductions in local workforce size, greater demand for health and social services, and changing housing needs. Communities also differ in their ability to support aging populations, such as in rural areas, where population decline and limited-service infrastructure may result in challenges due to these population changes. This data visualization describes t…
Reducing inequality is not antithetical to solving the climate crisis: An analysis of disposable income shares and carbon emissions for Canada's provinces
The authors conduct a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between carbon emissions and multiple characteristics of income inequality for the Canadian provinces for the 1999 to 2023 period. Particular attention is given to how disposable income shares for different groups affect province-level emissions. The analysis yields multiple findings of substantive relevance. First, the income share of the top quintile has a nontrivial positive effe…
Does stringent climate policy decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions
A foundational question in environmental sociology is whether economic growth can be sufficiently decoupled from greenhouse gas emissions. Scholars working in different analytical perspectives assert that such a decoupling is largely contingent on more stringent climate policy that mandates or incentivizes the reduction of carbon-intensive production. However, there is limited research on whether policy has such a moderating influence. Here, we e…
A Not‐So‐Just Transition? Examining the Effects of Coal Sector Decline on Life Expectancy in U.S. Counties
Driven by climate and energy policy priorities in national and global contexts, coal phase‐out is expected to improve public health outcomes by reducing human exposure to air, water, and soil pollution and decreasing the number of workers in dangerous mining conditions. However, the transition may also increase economic distress in mining communities leading to poorer health outcomes—possibly offsetting the benefits of phasing out coal. We examin…
Do industrial decarbonization policies deliver? A global assessment of policy effectiveness across 150 nations, 1990–2020
Industry is the fastest growing sector of carbon dioxide emissions, as well as the single largest source of global greenhouse emissions. Industrial decarbonization policies have therefore emerged as critical components of any attempt to achieve net-zero energy transitions. However, little research has examined the effectiveness of those industrial decarbonization policies. We fill this gap by examining trends in industrial greenhouse gas emission…
Does international trade drive CO2 emissions at the U.S. state-level
Whether and how trade impacts carbon emissions in Global North nations like the United States (U.S.) remains contested. Prior analyses focus on nation-states and rarely examine this relationship in subnational contexts. To fill this gap, I test a range of theories related to the trade-emissions nexus using U.S. state-level panel data from 2002–2019 and the half-panel jackknife fixed effects estimator. I examine whether trade intensity in the aggr…
Militarizing the Climate Crisis: An Analysis of the Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Militarization on Nations' Carbon Emissions, 1990-2020
Building on scholarship in global political economy, historical sociology, and environmental sociology, as well as emerging streams of research on militarization and climate change, we theorize about and successively investigate the short-run and long-run effects of two far-reaching characteristics of militarization on nations' carbon emissions and the climate crisis in general. We contend that emergent and changing conditions associated with the…
Inequality is driving the climate crisis: A longitudinal analysis of province-level carbon emissions in Canada, 1997–2020
The authors conduct a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between carbon emissions and income inequality for the Canadian provinces for the 1997 to 2020 period. The results indicate that the short-run and long-run effects of the income share of the top 10 % and the top 5 % on province-level emissions are positive, robust to various model specifications, net of multiple demographic and economic factors, not sensitive to exogenous shocks or …
Guns versus Climate: How Militarization Amplifies the Effect of Economic Growth on Carbon Emissions
Building on cornerstone traditions in historical sociology, as well as work in environmental sociology and political-economic sociology, we theorize and investigate with moderation analysis how and why national militaries shape the effect of economic growth on carbon pollution. Militaries exert a substantial influence on the production and consumption patterns of economies, and the environmental demands required to support their evolving infrastr…
The asymmetric effects of fossil fuel dependency on the carbon intensity of well-being: A U.S. state-level analysis, 1999–2017
A Guide to Analyzing Large N, Large T Panel Data
Fixed effects estimation of a static model with robust or panel corrected standard errors is commonly used to model large N, large T panel data. However, this approach is biased and inconsistent in the presence of dynamic misspecification, slope heterogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence. Common correlated effects estimation of a dynamic model has been advanced to address these issues but is rarely used in sociology. Here, I provide an overvie…
Trade and Health
Prior reviews have discussed the potential relationship between global economic integration and smoking prevalence, but for the most part, these non-empirical studies have only offered speculative observations. This cross-national study employs two-way fixed effects regression models and a three-way interaction to test whether integration into the global economy, measured as imports (% of GDP), affects male and female smoking prevalence across co…
It’s about time: How recent advances in time series analysis techniques can enhance energy and climate research
What Goes Up Might Not Come Down: Modeling Directional Asymmetry with Large-N, Large-T Data
Modeling asymmetric relationships is an emerging subject of interest among sociologists. York and Light advanced a method to estimate asymmetric models with panel data, which was further developed by Allison. However, little attention has been given to the large- N, large- T case, wherein autoregression, slope heterogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence are important issues to consider. The authors fill this gap by conducting Monte Carlo experi…
The Unsustainable State: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Inequality, and Human Well-Being in the United States, 1913 to 2017
A central premise of development strategies is that nations use natural resources, such as fossil fuels, to raise population living standards and enhance well-being. However, research shows that the relationship among human well-being, resource use, and the associated emissions is complex and context specific. To better understand if natural resource use plays a historic role in generating human well-being in the United States, the authors conduc…
In-and-Beyond State Power: How Political Equality Moderates the Economic Growth-CO2 Emissions Relationship, 1990-2014
This study tests whether greater political equality at the nation-state level moderates economic growth's association with production-based and consumption-based CO2 emissions. Based on data for 106 nations from 1990 to 2014, this study finds that greater political equality mitigates both types of emissions, but when interacted with economic growth, it intensifies growth's association with emissions. Conversely, political equality mitigates emiss…
Power, proximity, and physiology: Does income inequality and racial composition amplify the impacts of air pollution on life expectancy in the United States
This study advances research at the intersection of environmental degradation, social stratification, and population health in the United States. Expanding the theoretical principles of power, proximity, and physiology, we hypothesize that the harmful effect of fine particulate matter on life expectancy is greater in states with higher levels of income inequality and larger black populations. To test our hypothesis, we use two-way fixed effects r…
What Is Driving the Drug Overdose Epidemic in the United States
The demand-side perspective argues that the drug overdose epidemic is a consequence of changes in the economy that leave behind working-class people who lack a college education. In contrast, the supply-side perspective maintains that the epidemic is primarily due to changes in the licit and illicit drug environment, whereas a third, distinct perspective argues that income inequality is likely a key driver of the epidemic. To evaluate these compe…
Uneven Decoupling
The macro-comparative decoupling literature has often sought to test the arguments made by the treadmill of production (TP) and ecological modernization (EM) theories. However, due to data limitations, these studies have been limited to analyzing the years after 1960. Given that both theories discuss historical processes operating before 1960, analyzing pre-1960 data is warranted to more comprehensively test the propositions made by both theories…
Manufacturing the Urban Rift: Manufacturing as a Moderator of the Urbanization–CO2 Emissions Relationship, 2000–2013
Previous research suggests that the urbanization-CO 2 emissions relationship is contingent on various structural factors. We aim to advance this area of scholarship by investigating how manufacturing influences urbanization's association with national-level CO 2 emissions. In particular, we focus on the extent to which manufacturing is a moderator of the urbanization-CO 2 emissions relationship
The political economy of renewable portfolio standards in the United States
When democracy meets energy transitions: A typology of social power and energy system scale
The Transnational Tilt of the Treadmill and the Role of Trade Openness on Carbon Emissions: A Comparative International Study, 1965–2010
There are various schools of thought regarding the relationship between the environment and economy. Ecological modernization argues that the harmful effects of economic growth and development on the environment decline through time, whereas the treadmill of production and ecologically unequal exchange postulate different perspectives. This study relies on World Bank and World Resources Institute data for the period of 1965–2010. Time‐series cros…
The Paradoxical Relationship between Renewable Energy and Economic Growth: A Cross-National Panel Study, 1990-2013
This cross-national study employs a time-series cross-sectional Prais-Winsten regression model with panel-corrected standard errors to examine the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth, and its impact on total carbon dioxide emissions and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP. Findings indicate that renewable energy consumption has its largest negative effect on total carbon emissions and carbon emissions per un…
The Transnational Tilt of the Treadmill and the Role of Trade Openness on Carbon Emissions: A Comparative International Study, 1965–2010
There are various schools of thought regarding the relationship between the environment and economy. Ecological modernization argues that the harmful effects of economic growth and development on the environment decline through time, whereas the treadmill of production and ecologically unequal exchange postulate different perspectives. This study relies on World Bank and World Resources Institute data for the period of 1965–2010. Time‐series cros…
When democracy meets energy transitions: A typology of social power and energy system scale
Guns versus Climate: How Militarization Amplifies the Effect of Economic Growth on Carbon Emissions
Building on cornerstone traditions in historical sociology, as well as work in environmental sociology and political-economic sociology, we theorize and investigate with moderation analysis how and why national militaries shape the effect of economic growth on carbon pollution. Militaries exert a substantial influence on the production and consumption patterns of economies, and the environmental demands required to support their evolving infrastr…
A Guide to Analyzing Large N, Large T Panel Data
Fixed effects estimation of a static model with robust or panel corrected standard errors is commonly used to model large N, large T panel data. However, this approach is biased and inconsistent in the presence of dynamic misspecification, slope heterogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence. Common correlated effects estimation of a dynamic model has been advanced to address these issues but is rarely used in sociology. Here, I provide an overvie…
The Paradoxical Relationship between Renewable Energy and Economic Growth: A Cross-National Panel Study, 1990-2013
This cross-national study employs a time-series cross-sectional Prais-Winsten regression model with panel-corrected standard errors to examine the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth, and its impact on total carbon dioxide emissions and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP. Findings indicate that renewable energy consumption has its largest negative effect on total carbon emissions and carbon emissions per un…
What Goes Up Might Not Come Down: Modeling Directional Asymmetry with Large-N, Large-T Data
Modeling asymmetric relationships is an emerging subject of interest among sociologists. York and Light advanced a method to estimate asymmetric models with panel data, which was further developed by Allison. However, little attention has been given to the large- N, large- T case, wherein autoregression, slope heterogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence are important issues to consider. The authors fill this gap by conducting Monte Carlo experi…
The asymmetric effects of fossil fuel dependency on the carbon intensity of well-being: A U.S. state-level analysis, 1999–2017
What Is Driving the Drug Overdose Epidemic in the United States
The demand-side perspective argues that the drug overdose epidemic is a consequence of changes in the economy that leave behind working-class people who lack a college education. In contrast, the supply-side perspective maintains that the epidemic is primarily due to changes in the licit and illicit drug environment, whereas a third, distinct perspective argues that income inequality is likely a key driver of the epidemic. To evaluate these compe…
The political economy of renewable portfolio standards in the United States
The Unsustainable State: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Inequality, and Human Well-Being in the United States, 1913 to 2017
A central premise of development strategies is that nations use natural resources, such as fossil fuels, to raise population living standards and enhance well-being. However, research shows that the relationship among human well-being, resource use, and the associated emissions is complex and context specific. To better understand if natural resource use plays a historic role in generating human well-being in the United States, the authors conduc…
In-and-Beyond State Power: How Political Equality Moderates the Economic Growth-CO2 Emissions Relationship, 1990-2014
This study tests whether greater political equality at the nation-state level moderates economic growth's association with production-based and consumption-based CO2 emissions. Based on data for 106 nations from 1990 to 2014, this study finds that greater political equality mitigates both types of emissions, but when interacted with economic growth, it intensifies growth's association with emissions. Conversely, political equality mitigates emiss…
Inequality is driving the climate crisis: A longitudinal analysis of province-level carbon emissions in Canada, 1997–2020
The authors conduct a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between carbon emissions and income inequality for the Canadian provinces for the 1997 to 2020 period. The results indicate that the short-run and long-run effects of the income share of the top 10 % and the top 5 % on province-level emissions are positive, robust to various model specifications, net of multiple demographic and economic factors, not sensitive to exogenous shocks or …
Does international trade drive CO2 emissions at the U.S. state-level
Whether and how trade impacts carbon emissions in Global North nations like the United States (U.S.) remains contested. Prior analyses focus on nation-states and rarely examine this relationship in subnational contexts. To fill this gap, I test a range of theories related to the trade-emissions nexus using U.S. state-level panel data from 2002–2019 and the half-panel jackknife fixed effects estimator. I examine whether trade intensity in the aggr…
Militarizing the Climate Crisis: An Analysis of the Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Militarization on Nations' Carbon Emissions, 1990-2020
Building on scholarship in global political economy, historical sociology, and environmental sociology, as well as emerging streams of research on militarization and climate change, we theorize about and successively investigate the short-run and long-run effects of two far-reaching characteristics of militarization on nations' carbon emissions and the climate crisis in general. We contend that emergent and changing conditions associated with the…
It’s about time: How recent advances in time series analysis techniques can enhance energy and climate research
The Paradoxical Relationship between Renewable Energy and Economic Growth: A Cross-National Panel Study, 1990-2013
This cross-national study employs a time-series cross-sectional Prais-Winsten regression model with panel-corrected standard errors to examine the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth, and its impact on total carbon dioxide emissions and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP. Findings indicate that renewable energy consumption has its largest negative effect on total carbon emissions and carbon emissions per un…
The Transnational Tilt of the Treadmill and the Role of Trade Openness on Carbon Emissions: A Comparative International Study, 1965–2010
There are various schools of thought regarding the relationship between the environment and economy. Ecological modernization argues that the harmful effects of economic growth and development on the environment decline through time, whereas the treadmill of production and ecologically unequal exchange postulate different perspectives. This study relies on World Bank and World Resources Institute data for the period of 1965–2010. Time‐series cros…
Uneven Decoupling
The macro-comparative decoupling literature has often sought to test the arguments made by the treadmill of production (TP) and ecological modernization (EM) theories. However, due to data limitations, these studies have been limited to analyzing the years after 1960. Given that both theories discuss historical processes operating before 1960, analyzing pre-1960 data is warranted to more comprehensively test the propositions made by both theories…
Manufacturing the Urban Rift: Manufacturing as a Moderator of the Urbanization–CO2 Emissions Relationship, 2000–2013
Previous research suggests that the urbanization-CO 2 emissions relationship is contingent on various structural factors. We aim to advance this area of scholarship by investigating how manufacturing influences urbanization's association with national-level CO 2 emissions. In particular, we focus on the extent to which manufacturing is a moderator of the urbanization-CO 2 emissions relationship
The political economy of renewable portfolio standards in the United States
When democracy meets energy transitions: A typology of social power and energy system scale
Power, proximity, and physiology: Does income inequality and racial composition amplify the impacts of air pollution on life expectancy in the United States
This study advances research at the intersection of environmental degradation, social stratification, and population health in the United States. Expanding the theoretical principles of power, proximity, and physiology, we hypothesize that the harmful effect of fine particulate matter on life expectancy is greater in states with higher levels of income inequality and larger black populations. To test our hypothesis, we use two-way fixed effects r…
What Is Driving the Drug Overdose Epidemic in the United States
The demand-side perspective argues that the drug overdose epidemic is a consequence of changes in the economy that leave behind working-class people who lack a college education. In contrast, the supply-side perspective maintains that the epidemic is primarily due to changes in the licit and illicit drug environment, whereas a third, distinct perspective argues that income inequality is likely a key driver of the epidemic. To evaluate these compe…
Trade and Health
Prior reviews have discussed the potential relationship between global economic integration and smoking prevalence, but for the most part, these non-empirical studies have only offered speculative observations. This cross-national study employs two-way fixed effects regression models and a three-way interaction to test whether integration into the global economy, measured as imports (% of GDP), affects male and female smoking prevalence across co…
It’s about time: How recent advances in time series analysis techniques can enhance energy and climate research
What Goes Up Might Not Come Down: Modeling Directional Asymmetry with Large-N, Large-T Data
Modeling asymmetric relationships is an emerging subject of interest among sociologists. York and Light advanced a method to estimate asymmetric models with panel data, which was further developed by Allison. However, little attention has been given to the large- N, large- T case, wherein autoregression, slope heterogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence are important issues to consider. The authors fill this gap by conducting Monte Carlo experi…
The Unsustainable State: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Inequality, and Human Well-Being in the United States, 1913 to 2017
A central premise of development strategies is that nations use natural resources, such as fossil fuels, to raise population living standards and enhance well-being. However, research shows that the relationship among human well-being, resource use, and the associated emissions is complex and context specific. To better understand if natural resource use plays a historic role in generating human well-being in the United States, the authors conduc…
In-and-Beyond State Power: How Political Equality Moderates the Economic Growth-CO2 Emissions Relationship, 1990-2014
This study tests whether greater political equality at the nation-state level moderates economic growth's association with production-based and consumption-based CO2 emissions. Based on data for 106 nations from 1990 to 2014, this study finds that greater political equality mitigates both types of emissions, but when interacted with economic growth, it intensifies growth's association with emissions. Conversely, political equality mitigates emiss…
The asymmetric effects of fossil fuel dependency on the carbon intensity of well-being: A U.S. state-level analysis, 1999–2017
A Guide to Analyzing Large N, Large T Panel Data
Fixed effects estimation of a static model with robust or panel corrected standard errors is commonly used to model large N, large T panel data. However, this approach is biased and inconsistent in the presence of dynamic misspecification, slope heterogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence. Common correlated effects estimation of a dynamic model has been advanced to address these issues but is rarely used in sociology. Here, I provide an overvie…
Guns versus Climate: How Militarization Amplifies the Effect of Economic Growth on Carbon Emissions
Building on cornerstone traditions in historical sociology, as well as work in environmental sociology and political-economic sociology, we theorize and investigate with moderation analysis how and why national militaries shape the effect of economic growth on carbon pollution. Militaries exert a substantial influence on the production and consumption patterns of economies, and the environmental demands required to support their evolving infrastr…
Inequality is driving the climate crisis: A longitudinal analysis of province-level carbon emissions in Canada, 1997–2020
The authors conduct a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between carbon emissions and income inequality for the Canadian provinces for the 1997 to 2020 period. The results indicate that the short-run and long-run effects of the income share of the top 10 % and the top 5 % on province-level emissions are positive, robust to various model specifications, net of multiple demographic and economic factors, not sensitive to exogenous shocks or …
Do industrial decarbonization policies deliver? A global assessment of policy effectiveness across 150 nations, 1990–2020
Industry is the fastest growing sector of carbon dioxide emissions, as well as the single largest source of global greenhouse emissions. Industrial decarbonization policies have therefore emerged as critical components of any attempt to achieve net-zero energy transitions. However, little research has examined the effectiveness of those industrial decarbonization policies. We fill this gap by examining trends in industrial greenhouse gas emission…
Does international trade drive CO2 emissions at the U.S. state-level
Whether and how trade impacts carbon emissions in Global North nations like the United States (U.S.) remains contested. Prior analyses focus on nation-states and rarely examine this relationship in subnational contexts. To fill this gap, I test a range of theories related to the trade-emissions nexus using U.S. state-level panel data from 2002–2019 and the half-panel jackknife fixed effects estimator. I examine whether trade intensity in the aggr…
Militarizing the Climate Crisis: An Analysis of the Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Militarization on Nations' Carbon Emissions, 1990-2020
Building on scholarship in global political economy, historical sociology, and environmental sociology, as well as emerging streams of research on militarization and climate change, we theorize about and successively investigate the short-run and long-run effects of two far-reaching characteristics of militarization on nations' carbon emissions and the climate crisis in general. We contend that emergent and changing conditions associated with the…
Does renewable energy production displace fossil fuel production in the U.S.? A panel data study of fossil fuel–producing U.S. states, 1997–2020
Visualizing the Spatial Distribution of Aging Places in the United States, 2000 to 2020
Population aging has important sociological implications at the community level, including reductions in local workforce size, greater demand for health and social services, and changing housing needs. Communities also differ in their ability to support aging populations, such as in rural areas, where population decline and limited-service infrastructure may result in challenges due to these population changes. This data visualization describes t…
Reducing inequality is not antithetical to solving the climate crisis: An analysis of disposable income shares and carbon emissions for Canada's provinces
The authors conduct a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between carbon emissions and multiple characteristics of income inequality for the Canadian provinces for the 1999 to 2023 period. Particular attention is given to how disposable income shares for different groups affect province-level emissions. The analysis yields multiple findings of substantive relevance. First, the income share of the top quintile has a nontrivial positive effe…
Does stringent climate policy decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions
A foundational question in environmental sociology is whether economic growth can be sufficiently decoupled from greenhouse gas emissions. Scholars working in different analytical perspectives assert that such a decoupling is largely contingent on more stringent climate policy that mandates or incentivizes the reduction of carbon-intensive production. However, there is limited research on whether policy has such a moderating influence. Here, we e…
A Not‐So‐Just Transition? Examining the Effects of Coal Sector Decline on Life Expectancy in U.S. Counties
Driven by climate and energy policy priorities in national and global contexts, coal phase‐out is expected to improve public health outcomes by reducing human exposure to air, water, and soil pollution and decreasing the number of workers in dangerous mining conditions. However, the transition may also increase economic distress in mining communities leading to poorer health outcomes—possibly offsetting the benefits of phasing out coal. We examin…
Economics (20 works) · Energy, Environment, Economic Growth (17 works) · Climate Change Policy and Economics (9 works) · Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Ecology (7 works) · Environmental Impact and Sustainability (7 works) · Greenhouse gas (7 works) · Climate change (6 works) · Econometrics (6 works)