The worlds poorest and richest countries have relatively clean environments, while middleincome countries are the most polluted. Environmental kuznets curve an overview sciencedirect. Investigating the environmental kuznets curve hypothesis. The environmental kuznets curve is used to graph the idea that as an economy develops, market forces begin to increase and economic inequality decreases. Environmental kuznets curve some forms of pollution appear first to worsen and later to improve as countries incomes grow. We evaluate the nshaped environmental kuznets curve ekc using panel quantile regression analysis. Economic growth, environmental kuznets curve, pm 2. The environmental kuznets curve illustrates these trends and defines a countys future towards sustainable development. Permission is granted to copy, distribute andor modify this document under the terms of the gnu free. Kuznets curve was an empirical reality, to the point where theorists creating models with income distribution dynamics made sure they were able to replicate a kuznets curve in their models. The environmental kuznets curve for water pollution ahmadreza shahpouri1, hamed biabi2, leili abolhassani3 1 phd candidate of agricultural economics, agricultural sciences and natural resources university of sari. Ekcrelated studies started with simon kuznets 1955 who examined the relationship between income inequality and economic. A manual provides a comprehensive summary of the ekc, summarizing work on this economic tool that can analyze environmental pollution problems. The environmental kuznets curve suggests that economic development initially leads to a deterioration in the environment, but after a certain level of economic growth, a society begins to improve its relationship with the environment and levels of environmental degradation reduces.
The environmental kuznets curve ekc is one of the crucial energy environmental economics research fields, which has been attracted by numerous academics and researchers for the last three decades. The estimation of environmental kuznets curve in china. In fact, kuznets himself emphasized the fragility of his data among other caveats in his paper. The results reveal the regimeswitching effects in the incomepollution relationship as well.
Testing of environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis is the most common in environment literature so we also incorporated the real gdp per capita squared term in the model. The environmental kuznets curve ekc is an empirical proposition about the relationship between a countrys income and its levels of pollution. James van alstine and eric neumayer the environmental kuznets curve. We include additional explanatory variables, such as renewable energy consumption, technological development, trade, and institutional quality. The rise and fall of the environmental kuznets curve. Kuznets s name was apparently attached to the curve by grossman and krueger 1993, who noted. Environmental pollution and economic growth in china. Jawaharlal nehru university, india abstract it is very tough tradeoff between economic growth and environmental sustainability in a faster. Apr 10, 2019 kruegerthe authors who initially made the correlation between economic growth, environmental cleanup, and the kuznets curve, conclude that there is no evidence that environmental quality deteriorates steadily with economic growth. Reason for this decline in pollution with economic progress is that at low incomes, people tend to value development over environmental quality.
Specifically, an invertedu shape is found in the relationship between per capita income and two air pollutant emissions, soot and dust, which confirms the environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis. Sustainable development, growth theory, environmental. The rise and fall of the environmental kuznets curve david i. Evidence from panel unit root and cointegration tests that the environmental kuznets curve does not exist. The environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis proposes that environmental degradation initially increases with the income rise, and then begins to decrease once a certain threshold of income growth is achieved.
The environmental kuznets curve perc research study 021 yandle, vijayaraghavan, and bhattarai may 2002 3 in 1991, the kuznets curve took on a new existence. World environmental kuznets curve and the global future. The empirical validity of this kuznets curve has been intensively inves. As economies get richer environmental impacts first rise but eventually fall. The inverted ushaped relationship between economic growth and pollutants has been known as the environmental kuznets curve ekc halicioglu, 2009. Starting from an initially low income level, the ekc postulates that, as a countrys income grows, its pollution will initially rise, but will eventually decline if growth proceeds far enough, trac. The environmental kuznets curve ekc is a hypothesized relationship between environmental quality and economic development.
Implications on economic growth, access to safe drinking water and ground water utilisation in india. The flow pollutant causes immediate damages, but the stock. Department of geography and environment and center for environmental policy and governance cepg, london school of economics and political science, houghton street, london wc2a 2ae, uk. The environmental kuznets curve is an invertedu relationship between the level of pollution and growthincome. It seeks to examine the effects of economic growth on the environmental quality of the countries in the subregion. But further economic progress brings down pollution. The empirical methods robust to crosssectional dependence and slope heterogeneity reveals that the estimation of so 2 ekc in china suffers from. Emissions of various pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, sulfur, and nitrogen oxides, are tightly coupled to the use of energy.
The environmental kuznets curve ekc is a pragmatically, relationship that is assumed to trace the pollution path followed by countries as their per capita gross domestic product gdp grows and describes the relationship between per capita income and indicators of environmental degradation unruth and moomaw, 1998. Ap literature and composition essay romeo and juliet film adaptation essay my aim in life essay of english pdf capital punishment research. We analyse an overlapping generations model with two pollutants. The kuznets ratio is a measurement of the ratio of income going to the highestearning households usually defined by the upper 20% and the income going to the lowestearning households, which is commonly measured by either the lowest 20% or lowest 40% of income. Introduction the environmental kuznets curve ekc is a hypothesized relationship between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. This relationship, known as the environmental kuznets. This paper examines the relationship between per capita income and a wide range of environmental indicators using crosscountry panel sets. In this paper we offer a possible explanation for the empirical finding that the pollutionincome relationship pir for flow pollutants is an environmental kuznets curve ekc, i. The ekc is named for simon kuznets, who hypothesized that income inequality.
Kuznets curve has not survived without its share of critics. The present study is an endeavour to explore ekc in. The economist simon kuznets 19011985 graphically represented a curve in which inequality first increases as the average income increases, and then decreases after a certain average income is. A literature survey on environmental kuznets curve. He suggests further empirical investigation related to the assumption of additive separability, as well as development of additional macroeconomic models that allow for a more realistic role for government. Aggregation bias may lead to a wrongly estimated environmental kuznets curve ekc, and misguide the policymakers. Population growth and the environmental kuznets curve. The primary argument of critics of kuznets hypothesis and its resulting graphical representation is based on the countries used in kuznets data set.
Dinda 2004, for instance, analysed the race to the bottom scenario, as well as the diffusion of technology, international assistance, and technological and organizational. By the turn of the century, kanbur 2000 felt that the dominance of the kuznets hypothesis in income distribution research had become counterproductive. Pessimistic critics of empirically estimated curves have argued that their declining portions are illusory, either because they are crosssectional snapshots that mask a longrun race to the bottom in environmental standards, or because industrial societies will continually produce. When first unveiled, ekcs revealed a surprising outcome. An example of an estimated environmental kuznets curve ekc is shown in fig. This kind of functional relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth is graphically expressed by an inverted ushape slope called the environmental kuznets curve ekc 6. By enabling users to reconcile environmental and economic development policies, environmental kuznets curve studies lend themselves to the investigation of the energygrowth and financeenergy nexus. Environmental kuznets curve is still in its early stages. It is important, therefore, to understand the nature and causes of the environmental kuznets curve before adopting such far reaching, and to many quite alarming, implications for policy. Confronting the environmental kuznets curve susmita dasgupta, benoit laplante, hua wang and david wheeler t he environmental kuznets curve posits an invertedu relationship between pollution and economic development. Economic growth, environment, kuznets curve jel codes. In a seminal paper, kuznets 1955 argued that as countries developed, income inequality. The ekc proposes that indicators of environmental degradation first rise, and then fall with increasing income per capita. It became a vehicle for describing the relationship between measured levels of environmental quality, such as the concentration of sulfur dioxide emissions, and related measures of per.
Environmental kuznets curves perc yandle, bhattarai, and vijayaraghavan research study 021 update april 2004 7 larger economies, a factor contributing to environmental improvement as income rises. In brief, environmental kuznets curves are statistical artifacts that summarize a few important aspects of collective human behaviour in twodimensional space. The environmental kuznets curve in small geographies. The early estimates showed that some important indicators of environmental quality such as the concentrations of sulfur dioxide and. Stern encyclopedia of life support systems eolss finland 3. Environmental kuznets curves, and discounting roger perman, david i. Introduction this paper examines the relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability in the peoples republic of china, prc, by empirically estimating environmental kuznets curve ekc models using national data from. The environmental kuznets curve and flow versus stock. Van alstine, james and neumayer, eric 2010 the environmental kuznets curve. This has been taken to imply that economic growth will eventually. This paper is an evaluation of 30 countries using the environmental kuznets curve ekc. Australian journal of agricultural and resource economics, vol. In the early stages of economic growth degradation and pollution. Apr 12, 2017 the environmental kuznets curve shows an increasing pollution with initial development.
Empirical evidence of declining pollution levels with economic growth. The manner in which this has been done overcomes several of the weaknesses asscociated with the estimation of environmental kuznets curves ekcs. Comparing 20% to 20%, a completely even distribution is expressed as 1. Can anyone please help me on the way to get a kuznetz shaped curve. The adb economics working paper series is a quickdisseminating, informal publication whose titles could subsequently be revised for publication as articles in professional journals or chapters in books. Recent prominent works have been testing ekc by monitoring the influence of economic development on environmental indicators, such as climate change, ozone layer, air quality, water quality, waste generation, etc. This issue closely relates to the environmental kuznets curve ekc discussion, which investigates the quantitative relation between per capita emissions of some pollutants and economic activity. Studying the effect of trade liberalization, lopez 1994 derived a theoretical model showing that under certain conditions the inverted ushaped relationship between pollution and income holds. Investigating environmental kuznets curve in china.
Carson per capita income pollution 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 20000 40000 60000 80000 00 figure 1 stylized environmental kuznets curve. The environmental kuznets curve james van alstine and eric neumayer correspondence address. Studies found that higher economic growth in the us led to increased use of cars, but at the same time due to regulation, levels of air pollution in particular sulphur dioxide levels declined. From a very simplistic viewpoint, it can suggest that economic growth is good for the environment. James van alstine and eric neumayer the environmental. This paper aims to test the existence of aggregation bias in the environmental kuznets curve with the sulfur dioxide so 2 emission. The environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis is that there is an invertedu relationship between economic growth and environmental damage stern et al. We investigate the relationship between co2 emissions and gdp per capita for 74 countries over the period of 19942012. The paper investigates the validity of environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis in subsaharan african countries, using panel data analysis for the period 1980 to 2012. Environmental kuznets curves property and environment. The relationship between environmental protection and economic development has long been a controversial issue. Jun 10, 2016 in this paper, we analyze the existence of the environmental kuznets curve as reported by kuznets am econ rev 5. Foreign direct investments and the environmental kuznets.
The aim of the study is to address the relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth in egypt. Ekc, environmental justice, agglomeration, entry and exit. Environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis claims that there exists an inverted ushaped relationship between environmental degradation and income. The environmental kuznets curve ekc is a hypothesized relationship between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. Confronting the environmental kuznets curve request pdf. Bartlett 1994 claims that existing environmental regulation, by reducing economic growth, may actually be reducing environmental quality. Population growth and the environmental kuznets curve yu benjamin fu1, sophie xuefei wang2, zhe george zhang3 this version. Some empirical evidence showed that the level of environmental degradation and per capita income follow an inverted ushaped pattern, just as income inequality and per capita income in the original kuznets curve. Ekc examines relationship between per capita income and environmental degradation as reflected in per capita co2 emissions. Since its first inception in the debate on the relationship between environment and growth in 1992, the environmental kuznets curve has been subject of continuous and intense scrutiny. An empirical analysis for carbon dioxide emissions in egypt. There is some irony that the initial and highly in. Kuznets curve kc was considered as one of the tools for describing the relationship between the measured levels of environmental indicators and income per capita. In reality, though some types of environmental degradation have been reduced in developed countries others have not.
Kuznetss name was apparently attached to the curve by grossman and krueger 1993, who noted. The two variables are co2 per capita and gdp per capita. More specifically that as the economy grows, initially the environment suffers but eventually the relationship between the environment and the society improves. This paper presents a literature survey on environmental kuznets curve ekc, which includes genesis, explanations and empirical evidence of ekc. This paper contributes to extend the environmental kuznets curve ekc literature by introducing a new estimation technique able to deal with the issue of slope heterogeneity, functional form issues, the role of unobserved time. In this paper we focus on carbon dioxide emissions, hence we address this relation as the carbon kuznets curve ckc. Does the environmental kuznets curve describe how individual. The environmental kuznets curve and co 2 emissions in the usa. The environmental kuznets curve suggests that environmental quality may first decline and then rise with capita gdp shafik and bandyopadhyay 1992. The environmental kuznets curve posits an invertedu relationship between pollution and economic development. Apr 10, 2019 kuznets curve has not survived without its share of critics. Factors such as changes in the composition of output, the introduction of cleaner production technology and greater public demand for stricter controls on emissions grossman and.
An environmental kuznets curve reveals how a technically specified measurement of environmental quality changes as the fortunes of a country or a large human community change. Iran 2 ma of agricultural economics, ferdowsi university of mashhad. The series is maintained by the economics and research department. Results suggest that meaningful ekcs exist only for local air. A literature survey muhammad shahbaz energy and sustainable development montpellier business school, montpellier, france email. The environmental kuznets curve is a hypothesized relationship between environmental quality and economic envigonnementale pair them side by side to create a unique coffee. Introduction the environmental kuznets curve is a hypothesized relationship between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita.
The environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis proposes that there is an inverted ushape relation between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. But on the demand side, the marginal willingness to pay for environmental quality declines with incomealthough it does not fall to zero. Kruegerthe authors who initially made the correlation between economic growth, environmental cleanup, and the kuznets curve, conclude that there is no evidence that environmental quality deteriorates steadily with economic growth. The environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis postulates an invertedushaped relationship between different pollutants and per capita income, i. Environmental kuznets curve reveals how a specific measurement of environmental quality changes as the income of a nation or other large human community changes. Stern department of economics, rensselaer polytechnic institute, troy, ny 12180, usa june 2003 1.
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