Development, trade, and the environment: how robust is the Environmental Kuznets Curve?

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 557-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Cole
Keyword(s):  
Trade Liberalization ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Pollution Abatement ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Trade Patterns ◽  
Factor Endowments ◽  
Trade And The Environment ◽  
Country Characteristics ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Relative Factor

This paper assesses the strength of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) which posits an inverted-U relationship between per capital income and pollution. Specifically, answers are sought to the following related questions: (1) How robust is the EKC relationship?; (2) To what extent can the EKC relationship be explained by changing trade patterns as opposed to growth-induced pollution abatement? With regard to question (1), the alleged weaknesses with the EKC are assessed and new EKCs are estimated using more appropriate econometric techniques. Turning to question (2), it is argued that the impact of trade liberalization on the environment will differ from country to country depending on whether or not they have a comparative advantage in pollution-intensive production. In turn, it is argued that this depends on a country's relative factor endowments and/or its relative environmental regulations. EKCs are therefore estimated in a manner that allows the impact of trade liberalization on pollution to depend on these country characteristics. The results indicate that the inverted-U relationship between per capita income and emissions is reasonably robust and little evidence is found to suggest that trade patterns are a significant determinant of the inverted-U shape.

Environmental Regulation and International Trade: Empirical Results for Germany, the Netherlands and the US, 1977-1992

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abay Mulatu ◽  
Raymond J.G.M. Florax ◽  
Cees Withagen
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Pollution Abatement ◽  
Trade Patterns ◽  
Factor Endowments ◽  
The Us ◽  
Export Competitiveness ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Abstract We empirically investigate the responsiveness of international trade to the stringency of environmental regulation. Stringent environmental regulation may impair the export competitiveness of ‘dirty’ domestic industries, and as a result, ‘pollution havens’ emerge in countries where environmental regulation is relatively less stringent. We examine the impact of pollution abatement and control costs on net exports in order to grasp this phenomenon. Theoretically, our analysis is related to a general equilibrium model of trade and pollution nesting the pollution haven motive for trade with the factor endowment motive. We analyze data on two-digit ISIC manufacturing industries during the period 1977–1992 in Germany, the Netherlands and the US, and show that trade patterns in ‘dirty’ commodities are jointly determined by relative factor endowments and environmental stringency differentials.

Technical progress and pollution abatement: an economic view of selected technologies and practices

2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Water Pollution ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Technical Progress ◽  
Pollution Control ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Pollution Abatement ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Industrial Countries ◽  
Economic View ◽  
Per Capita

The paper first presents evidence from the engineering literature on air and water pollution control, which shows that, when the pollution abatement technologies are in place, large reductions in pollution have been achieved at costs that are small relative to the costs of production. A simulation model is then developed to study the effects of technical progress on pollution abatement, and applied to particular cases in developing countries. The results are compared with the projections of an environmental Kuznets curve: they reproduce the latter if policies were not to be introduced until per capita incomes reached levels comparable to those of the industrial countries when they first introduced their policies; but show dramatically lower and earlier peaks if policies were to be introduced earlier. The conclusion is shown to apply more generally, and it is argued that developing countries can aspire to addressing their environmental problems at a much earlier phase of development than the industrial countries before them.

scholarly journals Interrelationships Among Carbon Emission, Economic Growth, Energy Consumption and Foreign Direct Investment in Eurasian Countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Özge Yüksel
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Unit Root ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emission ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis ◽  
The Impact

The main aim of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of energy consumption and foreign direct investments on carbon emissions and the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in Eurasian countries over the period of 1993-2013. In this context, firstly cross-section dependency and homogeneity tests were applied for the the panel. The existence of unit root was investigated by one of the second-generation unit root test CIPS. The cointegration relationship between the variables was investigated with the Gengenbach, Urbain ve Westerlund panel cointegration test and finally, the causality relationship was examined using the Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test. Empirical results indicate that there is no cointegraion between carbon dioxide emission representing environmental pollution and other variables. Also, it was concluded that the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is not valid. There is a bidirectional causality between carbon emission and GDP, the square of GDP, energy consumption and foreign direct investment.

Income inequality and CO2 emissions: Empirical evidence from Turkey

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caner Demir ◽  
Raif Cergibozan ◽  
Adem Gök
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Aggregate Consumption ◽  
Distributed Lag ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
The Impact

The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of income inequality on environmental quality in Turkey within the Environmental Kuznets Curve framework. In order to observe the short-run and long-run effects of income inequality on environmental quality, an autoregressive distributed lag bounds test on CO2 emission has been employed for the period 1963–2011 of Turkey. The results of the analysis reveal that there is a negative association between CO2 emission level and income inequality, which implies that increasing income inequality reduces environmental degradation in Turkey. Hence, a greater inequality in the society leads to less aggregate consumption in the economy due to lower propensity to emit in the richer households resulting in better environmental quality. The findings confirm an argument in the existing literature, which suggests that for developing countries, until a certain level of development, environmental degradation increases as income inequality in the society decreases. The results also confirm the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis.

scholarly journals Output and pollution abatement in a U.S. state emission function

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neophyta Empora ◽  
Theofanis P. Mamuneas ◽  
Thanasis Stengos
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Pollution Abatement ◽  
State Level ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Nonlinear Relationship ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Emission Function

AbstractUsing U.S. state-level data for the period 1973–1994, this study models the relationship between emissions, output and pollution abatement by defining an emissions function, in a manner that is consistent with the residual (emissions) generation mechanism and firms' optimizing behavior. It thus accounts for factors that were previously unaccounted for or addressed only individually. Applications using this comprehensive setting can offer more informed insights for policy-making, something that is particularly useful for developing countries that face the environmental degradation that comes together with the benefits of economic growth. Using nonparametric econometric techniques as well as threshold regression, the empirical results show that there is a positive nonlinear relationship between emissions and output, rejecting an inverted-U type of relationship between the two (the Environmental Kuznets Curve, or EKC). In the absence of abatement the relationship turns around, verifying the arguments in the literature that abatement is one of the driving forces for an EKC to emerge.

The Environmental Kuznets Curve

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David I. Stern
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Gdp Per Capita ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Impact

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is a hypothesized relationship between environmental degradation and GDP per capita. In the early stages of economic growth, pollution emissions and other human impacts on the environment increase, but beyond some level of GDP per capita (which varies for different indicators), the trend reverses, so that at high income levels, economic growth leads to environmental improvement. This implies that environmental impacts or emissions per capita are an inverted U-shaped function of GDP per capita. The EKC has been the dominant approach among economists to modeling ambient pollution concentrations and aggregate emissions since Grossman and Krueger introduced it in 1991 and is even found in introductory economics textbooks. Despite this, the EKC was criticized almost from the start on statistical and policy grounds, and debate continues. While concentrations and also emissions of some local pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, have clearly declined in developed countries in recent decades, evidence for other pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, is much weaker. Initially, many understood the EKC to imply that environmental problems might be due to a lack of sufficient economic development, rather than the reverse, as was conventionally thought. This alarmed others because a simplistic policy prescription based on this idea, while perhaps addressing some issues like deforestation or local air pollution, could exacerbate environmental problems like climate change. Additionally, many of the econometric studies that supported the EKC were found to be statistically fragile. Some more recent research integrates the EKC with alternative approaches and finds that the relation between environmental impacts and development is subtler than the simple picture painted by the EKC. This research shows that usually, growth in the scale of the economy increases environmental impacts, all else held constant. However, the impact of growth might decline as countries get richer, and richer countries are likely to make more rapid progress in reducing environmental impacts. Finally, there is often convergence among countries, so that countries that have relatively high levels of impacts reduce them more quickly or increase them more slowly, all else held constant.

scholarly journals PERTUMBUHAN PENDUDUK, INFLASI DAN KORUPSI: ANALISIS EMPIRIS ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE (EKC) DI KAWASAN ASEAN PERIODE 2002-2016

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Muhammad Fajri Setia Trianto ◽  
Evi Yulia Purwanti
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Gdp Per Capita ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Impact

The economy that continues to grow has the impact of environmental damage. This study aims to prove empirically the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis by analyzing the relationship of economic growth with environmental damage as measured by GDP per capita, and CO2 emissions. The data used are secondary data in the form of data on GDP per capita, CO2 emissions, population growth, inflation, and control of corruption in 10 countries in the ASEAN region in 2002-2016. Data analysis using the Fixed Effect model. The results show that there is a relationship between economic growth and environmental damage that forms an inverted U curve. Economic growth will initially have a positive effect on environmental damage so that at a point of economic growth negatively affects environmental damage. By adding control variables: population growth, inflation and corruption, inflation and corruption positively impact environmental damage, while population negatively affect environmental damage.

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