The role of income inequality in shaping fishing ground footprint in Indonesia: Insights from the fourier augmented ARDL approach

While many studies examine the determinants of ecological footprint, evidence regarding the determinants of fishing ground footprint is quite limited. These limited studies focus on traditional economic factors, examining the determinants of fishing ground footprint. This study represents the first theoretical and empirical investigation linking income inequality to fishing ground footprint. The aim is to explore the influence of income inequality on fishing grounds footprint in Indonesia from 1980 to 2022. The study employs the Fourier Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag method, which robustly captures both long-term dynamics while accounting for structural breaks in the data. This method offers more reliable results than traditional methods. The analysis also incorporates economic factors such as financial development, economic growth, energy consumption, trade openness, and urbanization. The key finding reveals that income inequality increases the fishing ground footprint, indicating a positive nexus between income inequality and the fishing ground footprint in Indonesia. Additionally, financial development, economic growth, and urbanization enhance the fishing ground footprint, while energy consumption and trade openness have no significant effects. The results provide important insights for policymakers, highlighting the nexus between sustainable development goals and suggesting that Indonesia can simultaneously reduce inequality and fishing ground footprint.