Abstract
Carbon dioxide is understood to be the most important greenhouse gas believed to be altering the global climate. This article applies world-system theory to environmental damage. An analysis of 154 countries examines the contribution of both position in the world economy and internal class and political forces in determining a nation's CO, intensity. CO, intensity is defined here as the amount of carbon dioxide released per unit of economic output. An inverted U distribution of CO, intensity across the range of countries in the global stratification system is identified and discussed. Ordinary Least Squares regression suggests that the least efficient consumers of fossil fuels are some countries within the semi-periphery and upper periphery, spe-cifically those nations which are high exporters, those highly in debt, nations with higher military spending, and those with a repressive social structure.
Highlights
Carbon dioxide is understood to be the most important greenhouse gas believed to be altering the global climate
Pollution has long been understood to threaten local populations and ecosystems, but there is a broad awareness that human societies are altering the global climate through the emissions of carbon dioxide and other 'greenhouse'' gasses
Thatthe relation between economic growth and energy use is not cast in stone was shown by West Germany in the 1980s: while its economy grew at an average annual rate of 2.1 percent during that decade, West German emissions of ca1·bon dioxide fell by an average annual rate of~ 1.2percent (World Bank 1992b: 204, 221)
Summary
Pollution has long been understood to threaten local populations and ecosystems, but there is a broad awareness that human societies are altering the global climate through the emissions of carbon dioxide and other 'greenhouse'' gasses. Having a legacy of cheap labor and without the means to build high technology factories, infrastructure, or expensive pollution control devices, many nations have been constrained to use natural resources and labor-intensive production to try to increase their share of global income These are the countries that we anticipate are producing the greatest amount of C0 2 per unit of GDP in the last decades. The relative lack of natural resources compelled some East Asian states to make the difficult decisions such as land reform and cutting state spending, both made possible by World War Two's outcome (Ranis 1990) This special combination of factors has produced a more efficient export industry generating a higher level of processed goods, and lowered reliance on raw materials exports in countries such as Singapore and South Korea. More details on the meaning and measurement (including descriptives and correlations) of the variables are in Appendix A
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