Economic growth and environmental degradation: The Environmental Kuznets Curve and sustainable development

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dc.contributor.authorStern, D.en
dc.contributor.authorCommon, M.en
dc.contributor.authorBarbier, E.en
dc.contributor.departmentSustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) Knowledgebaseen
dc.coverage.spatialDeveloped and developing countriesen
dc.coverage.temporal1990 - 2025en
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-19T18:55:10Zen
dc.date.available2016-04-19T18:55:10Zen
dc.date.issued1996en
dc.descriptionMetadata only recorden
dc.description.abstractIn this paper we critically examine the concept of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). It proposes that there is an inverted U-shape relation between environmental degradation and income per capita, so that, eventually, growth reduces the environmental impact of economic activity. The concept is dependent on a model of the economy in which there is no feedback from the quality of the environment to production possibilities, and in which trade has a neutral effect on environmental degradation. The actual violation of these assumptions gives rise to fundamental problems in estimating the parameters of an EKC. The paper identifies other econometric problems with estimates of the EKC, and reviews a number of empirical studies. The inference from some such EKC estimates that further development will reduce environmental degradation is dependent on the assumption that world per capita income is normally distributed when in fact median income is far below mean income. We carry out simulations combining EKC estimates from the literature with World Bank forecasts for economic growth for individual countries, aggregating over countries to derive the global impact. Within the horizon of the Bank's forecast (2025) global emissions of SOI continue to increase. Forest loss stabilizes before the end of the period but tropical deforestation continues at a constant rate throughout the period.en
dc.format.mimetypetext/plainen
dc.identifier846en
dc.identifier.citationWorld Development 24(7): 1151-1160en
dc.identifier.issn0305-750Xen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/65763en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherElsevier Science Ltd.en
dc.rights1996 Elsevier Science Ltden
dc.subjectEconomic analysesen
dc.subjectEconomic growthen
dc.subjectSustainable developmenten
dc.subjectEnvironmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)en
dc.subjectEnvironmental degradationen
dc.subjectPer captia incomeen
dc.subjectGovernanceen
dc.titleEconomic growth and environmental degradation: The Environmental Kuznets Curve and sustainable developmenten
dc.typeAbstracten
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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