The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve

Date

2004

Authors

Stern, David

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Pergamon-Elsevier Ltd

Abstract

This paper presents a critical history of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). The EKC proposes that indicators of environmental degradation first rise, and then fall with increasing income per capita. Recent evidence shows however, that developing countries are addressing environmental issues, sometimes adopting developed country standards with a short time lag and sometimes performing better than some wealthy countries, and that the EKC results have a very flimsy statistical foundation. A new generation of decomposition and efficient frontier models can help disentangle the true relations between development and the environment and may lead to the demise of the classic EKC.

Description

Keywords

Keywords: economic development; environmental economics; environmental protection; Kuznets curve Econometrics; Economic development; Environmental Kuznets curve; Global; Pollution; Review

Citation

Source

World Development

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

License Rights

Restricted until

2037-12-31