A meta-analysis of environmental kuznets curve studies

Abstract

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is a hypothesized relationship between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. In the early stages of economic growth degradation and pollution increase, but beyond some level of income per capita, which will vary for different indicators, the trend reverses, so that at high income levels economic growth leads to environmental improvement. This implies that the environmental impact indicator is an inverted U-shaped function of income per capita. Typically, the logarithm of the indicator is modelled as a quadratic function of the logarithm of income. An example of an estimated EKC is shown in Figure 1. The EKC is named for Kuznets (1955) who hypothesized that income inequality first rises and then falls as economic development proceeds. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/8156