The Kuznets Curve for the Environment and Economic Growth: Examining the Evidence

1997 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 805-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Ekins
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Future Income ◽  
The Relationship

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 inverted-U relationship, which has been called an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), exists between these variables. There has been speculation on the implications of this for economic and environmental policy. In this paper I examine this research as a whole and find that unequivocal evidence for an EKC relationship is very scant; that there are important indicators which show a monotonically increasing relationship; that even where there may be an EKC relationship, most of the world's population is still on the section of the curve that is increasing, so that growth in income on the basis of this relationship would result in considerable further environmental damage; and that reviews of overall environmental quality even in the richest countries show that it is still declining. I conclude that from the point of view of environmental sustainability the income—environment relationship is still very problematic and that determined environmental policy will be required if future income growth is to be compatible with sustainable development.

An Empirical Investigation of Environmental Kuznets Curve in Nigeria

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Folorunso Sunday Ayadi
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Lower Stage ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
The Relationship

The possibility of the existence of environmental Kuznet curve (EKC) has been debated extensively in the literature. The reality of EKC is that, by pursuing growth in income, environmental objectives can be simultaneously accomplished without initiating extra intervention tools. Various studies have been conducted on the existence of EKC without any consensus. Therefore, in this paper, the author analyzes whether or not EKC exists and its shape. In this study, the author uses an explanatory variable to in the model, which is population density, showing the level of resilience of the environment to pollution. However, this research found that at the lower stage of income, environmental degradation declined with income growth, rises as income grew further, then declined. However, income did not contribute significantly toward the explanation of environmental degradation like population density. This research found no synergies between addressing poverty and environmental problems in Nigeria. Therefore, complementary environmental policies must be put in place when addressing poverty. Lastly, there are different shapes of the relationship between income growth and various measures of pollution and environmental degradation, and developing countries must recognize that no one size fits all in this relationship.

scholarly journals Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis: A Perspective of Sustainable Development in Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 09021
Author(s):  
Citrasmara Galuh Nuansa ◽  
Wahyu Widodo
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Ekc Hypothesis ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
The Relationship

Sustainable development with three main pillars, namely environmental, economic, and social, is the concept of country’s development to achieve inclusive economic growth, good environmental quality, and improvement of people's welfare. However, the dominance of economic factors cause various environmental problem. This phenomenon occurs in most of developing countries, including in Indonesia. The relationship between economic activity and environmental quality has been widely discussed and empirically tested by scholars. This descriptive research analysed the hypothesis called Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) from a perspective of sustainable development in Indonesia. EKC hypothesis illustrates the relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation forming an inverted U-curve, indicating that at the beginning of development, environmental quality will decrease along with increasing economic growth, and then reached a certain point the environmental quality will gradually improve. In this paper will be discussed how the relationship between environmental quality and economic growth in Indonesia was investigated. The preliminary results show that most of the empirical studies use the conventional approach, in which the CO2 emission used as the proxy of environmental degradation. The existence of inverted U-curve is also inconclusive. Therefore, the extension research on the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality in Indonesia using the EKC hypothesis is required.

scholarly journals Does the digital finance revolution validate the Environmental Kuznets Curve? Empirical findings from China

PLoS ONE ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e0257498
Author(s):  
Kaiyang Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Industrial Structure ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
Threshold Effect ◽  
Growth Effect ◽  
Income Growth ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Economic Activities

In recent years, digital finance has become a crucial part of the financial system and reshaped the mode of green finance in China. Digital finance has brought certain impact on economic growth, industrial structure, and resident income, which may affect pollution. The nexus of digital finance and environment in China is thus worth exploring. By revising the traditional Environmental Kuznets Curve model with income inequality variable, this paper decomposes the environmental effects of economic activities into income growth effect, industrial structure effect and income inequality effect, and use panel data of China’s provinces to conduct an empirical analysis. The results reveal the following: (1) the Environmental Kuznets Curve is still valid in sample, and digital finance can reduce air and water pollution (as measured through SO2 and COD emission) directly; (2) in the influence mechanism, digital finance can alleviate income inequality and promote green industrial structure, thus reducing pollution indirectly, but the scale effect of income growth outweighs the technological effect, which increases pollution indirectly; and (3) digital finance has a threshold effect on improving the environment, then an acceleration effect appears after a certain threshold value. From the regional perspective, digital finance development in eastern regions is generally ahead of central and western regions, and the effects of environmental improvement in the eastern regions are greater. According to the study, this paper suggest that digital finance can be an effective way to promote social sustainability by alleviating income inequality and environmental sustainability by reducing pollution.

Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Critical Review

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sakshi Gambhir
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Ekc Hypothesis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Trade And Growth

The relationship between economic growth and environmental quality has been under much dispute. Over the years, several studies have identified inverted-U shaped relationships between per capita income and some measure of environmental degradation. This has led to the emergence of a burgeoning literature on what has come to be known about as the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). According to the EKC hypothesis, environmental damage increases in the early stages of economic growth, but diminishes once nations reach higher levels of income. This literature is important as it acknowledges the possibility of trade and growth being good for the environment. Against this backdrop, we have attempted to give an overview of some of the studies published on EKC and subsequently critically appraised the same. The EKC has been criticised for its simplified assumptions and the literature appears to be largely econometrically weak. It has been shown to apply to select environmental indicators for certain countries; hence its validity as a universal phenomenon remains questionable. Owing to global implications of environmental degradation, more efforts are required to examine the validity of EKC as a global phenomenon by relating a composite index of environmental degradation to a better measure of economic development across nations.

Economic Growth as Environmental Policy? Reconsidering the Environmental Kuznets Curve

2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEIGH RAYMOND
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Policy Option ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Environmental Sustainability Index ◽  
Simon Kuznets

Some research has posited that while initially damaging to the environment, continued economic growth eventually leads to superior environmental quality. This relationship is often described as an ‘Environmental Kuznets Curve’ (EKC), after a similar hypothesis regarding income inequality made by economist Simon Kuznets. Following such findings, the EKC is sometimes offered as a rationale for encouraging economic growth as the best environmental policy option. This paper reconsiders the policy-relevance of the EKC idea, drawing on a wide range of international data collected in the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) project. Specifically, it tests the theoretical arguments advanced by Arrow and others (1995) that EKC relationships are unlikely to hold for environmental problems that are intergenerational in time or spread across national boundaries. The results of this research substantially confirm those arguments, providing more evidence that the EKC idea is an inadequate guide for environmental policy makers around the globe.

scholarly journals Does the Environmental Kuznets Curve Exist? An International Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 9117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nutnaree Maneejuk ◽  
Sutthipat Ratchakom ◽  
Paravee Maneejuk ◽  
Woraphon Yamaka
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
International Economic ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Ekc Hypothesis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This study aims to examine the relationship between economic development and environmental degradation based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The level of CO2 emissions is used as the indicator of environmental damage to determine whether or not greater economic growth can lower environmental degradation under the EKC hypothesis. The investigation was performed on eight major international economic communities covering 44 countries across the world. The relationship between economic growth and environmental condition was estimated using the kink regression model, which identifies the turning point of the change in the relationship. The findings indicate that the EKC hypothesis is valid in only three out of the eight international economic communities, namely the European Union (EU), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and Group of Seven (G7). In addition, interesting results were obtained from the inclusion of four other control variables into the estimation model for groups of countries to explain the impact on environmental quality. Financial development (FIN), the industrial sector (IND), and urbanization (URB) were found to lead to increasing CO2 emissions, while renewable energies (RNE) appeared to reduce the environmental degradation. In addition, when we further investigated the existence of the EKC hypothesis in an individual country, the results showed that the EKC hypothesis is valid in only 9 out of the 44 individual countries.

The environmental Kuznets curve and satiation: a simple static model

2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph M. Lieb
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
Income Elasticity ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Income Levels ◽  
Elasticity Of Demand ◽  
Consumer Model ◽  
Income Elasticity Of Demand ◽  
The Relationship

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is a hypothesis stating that pollution rises with income at low income levels but falls at higher ones. We analyse the EKC in a representative consumer model in which pollution is generated by consumption and can be abated. We show that at low income levels no abatement is optimal and pollution increases with income. Once abatement expenditures are positive, we demonstrate that satiation in consumption is not only sufficient to find an EKC, but a tendency to satiation—or in other words the condition that environmental quality is a normal good—is even necessary if we assume a standard functional form for the pollution function. Finally, we reconsider the results of two related models of the literature: We verify that the relationship between the income elasticity of demand for environmental quality and the EKC is ambiguous.(JEL: D62, O40, Q20)

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