The fresh specification offers some promise for analysis of such phenomena. Most environmental kuznets curve ekc theories do not apply to carbon dioxide c02. The year 2017 had the highest number of publications 377 papers on the environmental kuznets curve hypothesis while the first publication on the topic occurred in 1993 1 paper. In this article i shall discuss the ekc and examine whether it exists in reality. Recent research has examined the relationship between certain indicators of environmental quality and income, concluding on the basis of econometric estimation that in some cases an invertedu relationship, which has been called an environmental kuznets curve. It has been hypothesized that the ekc is an inverted ushaped association between economic growth and co2 emissions. The simple analytics of the environmental kuznets curve. Emissions of various pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, sulfur, and nitrogen oxides, are tightly coupled to the use of energy. Can anyone please help me on the way to get a kuznetz shaped curve. In 1955, kuznets found that the relationship between income inequality and economic growth has an inverted ushaped feature. 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 ekc, shows the relationship between economic progress and environmental degradation through time as an economy progresses. The rise and fall of the environmental kuznets curve david i.
Testing the environmental kuznets curve hypothesis for. The early estimates showed that some important indicators of environmental quality such as the concentrations of sulfur dioxide and. The environmental kuznets curve and sustainability. Environmental kuznets curve ekc become an interesting issue that motivated a lot of studies on the inverted ushaped relationship between income and co2 emission. Bates skip to main content accessibility help we use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Environmental pollution has become a serious concern because of rapid industrialization and resource depletion. Reexamining the empirical evidence for an environmental kuznets curve william harbaugh, arik levinson, david wilson.
Pdf an analysis of the environmental kuznets curve for carbon. The manner in which this has been done overcomes several of the. Investigating the environmental kuznets curve hypothesis. Statistical analyses were undertaken using the software package stata. The carbon dioxide information analysis center cdiac, realized more. After this threshold level of income is reached, kuznets hypothesised that inequality would decline. But later, as the economy achieves further development, pollution decreases. The environmental indicators used in this analysis are.
There is a ushaped plus inverted ushaped curve between eiww and gdppc. However, research on the environmental kuznets curve hypothesis has since experienced a significant increase. According to the paris climate agreement and the united nations program 2015, in order to. Boyce department of economics, thompson hall, uni6ersity of massachusetts at amherst, amherst ma 01003, usa abstract improvements in some measures of air and water quality can accompany rising per capita income, as illustrated by. Results show that the pollution load generated by crop cultivation and livestockbreeding industries in the ningxia. The kuznets curve for the environment and economic growth. The results show that the relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution of anhui province is different from environmental kuznets curve. The paper analyses a traditional environmental kuznets curve ekc relationship between greenhouse gases ghg and gross domestic product gdp, extending the research to include some additional factors, such as environmental tax, research and development expenditure, implicit tax rate on energy, primary production of coal and lignite, energy intensity of the economy taken from the. To examine environmental pollution by economic growth and their. In general, we find support for the environmental kuznets curve for some pollutants and for its rejection in other cases. The environmental kuznets curve ekc is a hypothesized relationship between environmental quality and economic development. Pdf the environmental kuznets curve and sustainability. Decoupling analysis and environmental kuznets curve. The worlds poorest and richest countries have relatively clean environments, while middleincome countries are the most polluted.
It is found that the theoretical outcomes imply the existence of the ekc relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth. The two variables are co2 per capita and gdp per capita. Environmental kuznets curve analysis of the economic. This survey categorizes the studies on the basis of single country and crosscountry contexts. This paper presents a critical history of the environmental kuznets curve ekc.
Literature on the environmental kuznets curve ekc is examined, focussing on the possibility that the ekc may be explained by trade patterns. A social capital index and other variables are used in parametric and spatial panel regression models to explain water pollution dynamics. A similar relationship has been theorised between income per capita and environmental outcomes and this is known as the environmental kuznets curve ekc. N2 the environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis dates back in decades and is still topical presently due to its importance in environmental policy formulation.
This paper provides a survey of the empirical literature on environmental kuznets curve ekc estimation of carbon dioxide co2 emissions over the period of 19912017. If significant, this trade effect would cast doubt on the oftstated conclusion that economic growth automatically leads. 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. It describes that as countries develop initially, pollution increases. Before the advent of the environmental kuznets curve ekc, the relationship. The ekc is named for simon kuznets, who hypothesized that income inequality. Analysis of the validity of environmental kuznets curve. Introduction the environmental kuznets curve is a hypothesized relationship between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita.
By the turn of the century, kanbur 2000 felt that the dominance of the kuznets hypothesis in income distribution research had become counterproductive. Since 1991, when economists first reported a systematic relationship between income changes and environmental quality, this relationship, known as the environmental kuznets curve ekc, has become standard fare in technical conversations about environmental policy grossman and krueger 1991. Public economics program evidence suggests that some pollutants follow an inverseushaped pattern relative to countries incomes. Public economics program this paper uses an updated and revised panel data set on ambient air pollution in cities worldwide to examine the robustness of the evidence for the existence of an inverted ushaped. In recent years, sustainability has represented one of the most important policy goals explored in the environmental kuznets curve ekc literature. This study applies the environmental kuznets curve to test the. 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. Environmental kuznets curve hypothesis springerlink.
The estimation of environmental kuznets curve in china. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are not many studies that have explored the ekc hypothesis for pollutant emissions across eu28. Pdf over the past two decades, researchers have sought to establish empirical evidence for an environmental kuznets curve ekc for. An example of an estimated environmental kuznets curve ekc is shown in fig.
Working paper wp238, technology and employment program. Exploring the link between environmental pollution and. We advance a case for an inclusion of social capital in the environmental kuznets curve analysis using highly disaggregated data on water pollution in louisiana. Most environmental kuznets curve ekc theories do not apply to carbon dioxide co2an unregulated, invisible, odorless gas with no direct human health. This study applies the environmental kuznets curve to test the relationship between the regional economic growth and the different types of agricultural nonpoint source pollution loads in the ningxia yellow river irrigation area by using the johnes export coefficient method. The simple analytics of the environmental kuznets curve abstract. This paper examines the relationship between per capita income and a wide range of environmental indicators using crosscountry panel sets. The rise and fall of the environmental kuznets curve. A fourth implication states the analysis concerning corruption related with rule of law. The environmental kuznets curve and the structural change hypothesis. Vincenttesting for environmental kuznets curves within a developing countries. This study applies the environmental kuznets curve to test the relationship between.
An analysis based on ecological restoration under the grain for green program. We show that along the bgp equilibrium an inverted ushaped incomepollution relationship may occur as a. The present paper contributes to this ongoing literature by studying two different ekc specifications for 10 middle east and north african. Most environmental kuznets curve ekc theories do not apply to carbon dioxide co 2an unregulated, invisible, odorless gas with no direct human health effects. Chinas massive and longterm pollution problem is putting an economic thesis to the test. A crosscountry analysis for latin america, africa and asia. This chapter deals with the environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis, as one hypothesis that speaks to the possibility of sustainable development.
The study revealed that an increase in energy consumption exacerbates carbon dioxide emissions in the longrun. Environmental kuznets curve reveals how a specific measurement of environmental quality changes as the income of a nation or other large human community changes. Reexamining the empirical evidence for an environmental. But related hypotheses, performance measures and results continue to present a challenge. Berkeley lab has been the epicenter for the creation of some of the most powerful tools, models, software, and data resources designed to inform and assist policymakers, support industry innovation, and advance the impact of research. When first unveiled, ekcs revealed a surprising outcome. This analysis addresses the hypothesis that the incomeco 2 relationship reflects changes in the composition of an economy as it develops and the associated role of trade in an emissionsintensive good e. Environmental kuznets curve ekc has been already explored. Kuznets curve has not survived without its share of critics. This relationship is denoted as the environmental kuznets curve ekc. Pdf the environmental kuznets curve and the structural. Both the autoregressive distributed lag model and the utest estimation confirmed an inverted ushaped curve, thus, validating the environmental kuznets curve hypothesis in kenya. Stern rensselaer polytechnic institute, troy, ny, usa available online summary.
Previous environmental kuznets curve ekc studies on europe explored various countries such as austria, croatia, france, italy 18, 19, portugal and spain, romania, spain 2225, united kingdom. Evidence suggests that some pollutants follow an inverseushaped pattern relative to countries incomes, a relationship that has been called an environmental kuznets curve. The paper develops a twostatevariable environmental growth model to derive the optimal growth path for the relationship between pollution and economic growth, which is used to verify the existence of the environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis. An introduction to thomas pikettys capital in the 21st century a macat economics analysis. The environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis dates back in decades and is still topical presently due to its importance in environmental policy formulation. In fact, kuznets himself emphasized the fragility of his data among other caveats in his paper. The simple analytics of the environmental kuznets curve james andreoni, arik levinson. The environmental kuznets curve a primer bruce yandle, maya vijayaraghavan, and madhusudan bhattarai introduction s ince 1991, when economists first reported a systematic relationship between income changes and environmental quality, the relationship known as the environmental kuznets curve ekc has become standard fare in technical. From a very simplistic viewpoint, it can suggest that economic growth is good for the environment. A russianamerican economist and statistician who won the 1971 nobel memorial prize in economic sciences for his research on economic growth.
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