An inverse global environmental Kuznets curve

Abstract

This paper emphasizes the role played by the level of global environmental degradation ( GED) in economic development; this link has been ignored in the existing literature on the environmental Kuznets curve ( EKC). We develop a composite environmental degradation index ( EDI) using Principal Components Analysis ( PCA) and relate it to an appropriate measure of economic development, i.e., the human development index ( HDI), with a view toward developing a global EKC ( GEKC) for 174 countries. Several important conclusions relating to the global behavior of environmental degradation, the precise shape of the GEKC, and the pattern of distribution of GED are derived.