Abstract
The empirical Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) literature is colorful but far from conclusive. The environmental Kuznets hypothesis (EKC) confirms an inverse U-shaped relationship between environmental pollution and per capita income. Many authors have analyzed the existence of an EKC for various pollutants. Others have used the EKC framework to identify country characteristics that help to explain the income–environment relationship. But for a local area, such as a province, studies are rare indeed. In this framework, based on the GDP per capita and emissions of industrial waste from 1985 to 2010 in Sichuan Province, China, the relationship is analyzed using regression between economic development and environment in Sichuan Province. Our evidence suggests that there exists a U-shaped or an inverted N-shaped relationship between environmental pollution and economic development in Sichuan Province, that is to say, the environmental Kuznets hypothesis is invalid in Sichuan Province. There are two possible reasons for this conclusion: firstly, KEC curve will not appear at any level of the economic development in Sichuan Province; secondly, the Environmental Kuznets Curve in Sichuan Province exists objectively, but the economic development in Sichuan Province at current stage is not sufficient enough to promote the appearance of KEC curve. However, more attention must be paid to the relation between environmental pollution and per capita income and appropriate environmental policies are required.
Highlights
There are two possible reasons for this conclusion: firstly, KEC curve will not appear at any level of the economic development in Sichuan Province; secondly, the Environmental Kuznets Curve in Sichuan Province exists objectively, but the economic development in Sichuan Province at current stage is not sufficient enough to promote the appearance of KEC curve
Through the analysis of economic growth and income gap in 18 countries, American economist Kuznets drew the following conclusions in the study of the relationship between economic growth and income distribution inequality: the inequality of income distribution is rapidly widening at early stages of economic growth, followed by the short-term stability, it gradually declines at the later stages of growth, while the income inequality in developing countries at the early stages of development is more serious than developed countries, which is called the income Kuznets Curve (Researched by Kuznets, 1995)
What’s more, inverted U-shaped relationship means that when income levels are in the lower stages, the environment quality deteriorates as incomes rise and when income levels are in the high stages, the environment quality improves as income rises
Summary
Through the analysis of economic growth and income gap in 18 countries, American economist Kuznets drew the following conclusions in the study of the relationship between economic growth and income distribution inequality: the inequality of income distribution is rapidly widening at early stages of economic growth, followed by the short-term stability, it gradually declines at the later stages of growth, while the income inequality in developing countries at the early stages of development is more serious than developed countries, which is called the income Kuznets Curve (Researched by Kuznets, 1995). Based on the income Kuznets Curve theory, scholars Grossman and Krueger empirically analyzed the relationship between environmental quality and per capita income of the North American Free Trade Area for the first time in 1991. They concluded: pollution would increase with the rise in per capita GDP at low income levels, and decline with the growth of per capita GDP at the high-income level (Grossman & Krueger, 1991) .Panayotou first defined the relationship between environment-quality and per capita income as the Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) using the inverted U-shaped curve in 1993. Whether the inverted U-shaped curve exists in Sichuan Province, the last section will conclude
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