Exploring Environmental Kuznets Curve. An Investigation on Eu Economies (original) (raw)
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Journal of Environmental Science and Economics, 2024
This study uses data from the European Union (EU-27) member states to examine the relationship between environmental expenditure and key socioeconomic indicators, including Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, population size, urban population and unemployment rate. The analysis investigates if environmental expenditure follows the patterns suggested by the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis by applying linear and quadratic regression models. The results show a strong positive relationship between urbanization and environmental expenditure. However, rather than following the expected inverted U-shaped curve suggested by the EKC, the relationship between GDP per capita and environmental expenditure is more linear. The study finds a fairly significant negative relationship between unemployment and environmental expenditure but no significant relationship is observed between population size and environmental spending. These findings have significant policy implications as they highlight how urbanization affects environmental expenditure and the necessity of devising economic strategies that incorporate environmental protection at different stages of economic growth.
This research empirically explores the relation between carbon dioxide emission and economic growth during the period 1992–2010, using panel data on the European Union countries. Both fixed and random effect models are employed to test the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) relationship between CO 2 emissions and GDP per capita. While no U-shaped EKC was confirmed empirically for all 28 current EU member states, the graphical analysis demonstrates a justified turning point for CO 2 emissions as GDP per capita reaches the level of 23,000 USD. Furthermore, there is a firm empirical ground for the EKC hypothesis based on data from 16 older, relatively high-income EU states. Thus, though not empirically confirmed, there is ample data verifying the existence of the EKC in EU economies.
The Environmental Kuznets Curve: Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries
Energy Consumption, Conversion, Storage, and Efficiency [Working Title]
The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis reflects the relationship between environmental quality and GDP per capita. The environmental quality decreases in early periods of GDP growth per capita until a certain point, and after that, it begins to increase. This paper investigates the presence of the EKC curve in OECD countries over the period 1997–2015 and identifies thresholds levels of GDP per capita leading to lower emissions per capita for these countries. Also, it points out the key role of energy from renewable sources. Based on nonlinear panel data methods, findings show that CO2 emissions increase up to a certain level of income (10774$–44494$ per head) and then, they decrease. Policymakers are encouraged to consider economy, technology, and environment all together and handle the legal regulations they will implement, accordingly.
Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 2014
The paper considers the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) as the main variable of climate change and gross domestic product (GDP), using the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) technique. At early stages of economic growth, EKC indicates the increase of pollution related to the growing use of resources. However, when a certain level of income per capita is reached, the trend reverses and at a higher stage of development, further economic growth leads to improvement of the environment. According to the researchers, this implies that the environmental impact indicator is an inverted U-shaped function of income per capita. In this paper, the cubic equation is used to empirically check the validity of the EKC relationship for European countries. The analysis is based on the survey of EU-27, Norway and Switzerland in the period of 1995–2010. The data is taken from the Eurostat database. To gain some insights into the environmental trends in each country, the article highl...
PLOS ONE, 2018
This study examines the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis (EKC), considering the primary energy consumption among other country-specific variables, for a panel of the EU-28 countries during the period 1990-2014. By estimating pooled OLS regressions with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors in order to account for cross-sectional dependence, the results confirm the EKC hypothesis in the case of emissions of sulfur oxides and emissions of nonmethane volatile organic compounds. In addition to pooled estimations, the output of fixedeffects regressions with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors support the EKC hypothesis for greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas emissions intensity of energy consumption, emissions of nitrogen oxides, emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds and emissions of ammonia. Additionally, the empirical findings from panel vector error correction model reveal a short-run unidirectional causality from GDP per capita growth to greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a bidirectional causal link between primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, since there occurred no causal link between economic growth and primary energy consumption, the neo-classical view was confirmed, namely the neutrality hypothesis.
International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 2022
This study contributes to the analysis of the Environmental Kuznets hypothesis (EKC) for 31 industrialized countries during 1980-2019 using long-term static and dynamic panel data methods. According to Pesaran's CD tests, the CSD issue is present in all variables. The EKC model had a long-run relationship, according to the results of the second-generation Pesaran CIPS unit roots and Westerlund tests. The estimation results of the static model (MG) and dynamic models (CS-DL and CS-ARDL) reached the same conclusion as the reliability of the EKC hypothesis, implying that environmental pollution and economic growth are linked in an inverted N-letter shape.
A Kuznets Curve in Environmental Efficiency: An Application on OECD Countries
Environmental & Resource Economics, 2000
The role of the environment is an important issue in policy making andthe accurate assessment of the environmental conditions is vital. Inthis paper, using nonparametric techniques, an environmental efficiencyindex is developed for each of the OECD countries. These indexes allowone both to do cross section comparisons on the state of each country'sproduction process in its treatment of undesirable outputs and also totrace each country's modification of their production processesovertime. Furthermore in this study we investigate the factorsunderlying societies' environmental concerns that eventually lead tochanges in the environmental efficiency. The results provide furtherempirical evidence for the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis.
Economics and Environmental Development: Testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis
2021
The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) shows the relationship between economic development, which is proxied in per capita income, and environmental quality. This study aims to view the existence of the EKC by arranging the distribution of 62 countries into four sub-samples based on per capita income from 1992 to 2017. By applying panel data, the model uses the Error Correction Mechanism (ECM) method to see the effect of economic growth on environmental quality (CO2 emission) in both the short and the long term. The results show that the EKCs on our four subsamples used are not conclusive, and are more likely to refer to the “N” pattern. This result confirms that the impetus of development at a higher level will lead to a degradation of environmental quality. Therefore, policy intervention becomes an important thing.
The role of government spending within the environmental Kuznets curve framework: evidence from G7 countries, 2023
This study assesses the role of government spending on environmental sustainability based on a framework that combines the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis with the Armey curve hypothesis. Specifically, the inverted U-shaped relationships between carbon (CO 2) emissions and economic growth (EKC hypothesis) and between government spending and economic growth (Armey curve hypothesis) are analyzed using a composite EKC model tested for cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity, panel unit root, panel co-integration, and the augmented mean group estimation. In so doing, this study pursues a potential transmission mechanism leading from government spending to CO 2 emissions through the growth channel and presents a novel way to develop a better understanding of how economic growth policy and energy policy can be synchronized. Empirical results show that economic growth acts as a transmitter between government spending and CO 2 emissions in the USA, UK, and Canada. However, the composite EKC hypotehesis is confirmed only for the USA and Canada, where the optimal level of government spending that maximizes CO 2 emissions is 29.87% and 29.22% of GDP, respectively. In contrast, the optimal level of government spending equivalent to 28.30% of GDP minimizes CO 2 emissions in the UK. The key policy implication is that governments can achieve sustainable economic growth by setting standards for their spending levels.
Economic growth and emissions: reconsidering the empirical basis of environmental Kuznets curves
Ecological Economics, 1998
Recent empirical research indicates that certain types of emissions follow an inverted-U or environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) as income grows. This regularity has been interpreted as a possible de-linking of economic growth and patterns of certain pollutants for developed economies. In this paper the empirical basis of this result is investigated by considering some statistical particularities of the various EKC studies performed. It is argued that the inverted-U relationship between income and emissions estimated from panel data need not hold for specific individual countries over time. Based on insights from 'intensity-of-use' analysis in resource economics, an alternative growth model is specified and estimated for three types of emissions (CO 2 , NO x and SO 2 ) in four countries (Netherlands, UK, USA and Western Germany). It is found that the time patterns of these emissions correlate positively with economic growth and that emission reductions may have been achieved as a result of structural and technological changes in the economy. 'Sustainable growth' is defined as the rate of economic growth that does not lead to growth in emissions. Its rate is calculated for each type of emission and country, based on estimated parameter values. The resulting indicators reflect a balance between the positive influence of growth and negative influence of structural change and technological progress on emission levels.