Bayesian Estimation of the Decoupling of Affluence and Waste Discharge under Spatial Correlation: Do Richer Communities Discharge More Waste?

Daisuke Ichinose, Masashi Yamamoto and Yuichiro Yoshida
Additional contact information
Daisuke Ichinose: School of Economics, Rikkyo University
Masashi Yamamoto: Center for Far Eastern Studies, University of Toyama

No 3-10, IDEC DP2 Series from Hiroshima University, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC)

Abstract: A number of developing countries have come to face the growing problems of municipal solid waste management caused by rapid economic growth. Although there are many studies on the environmental Kuznets curve, very few address the issue of municipal solid waste, and there is still controversy concerning the validity of the waste version of the Kuznets curve hypothesis. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence in support of the waste Kuznets curve hypothesis by applying spatial econometrics methods to municipal-level data from Japan. The study finds valid evidence for the waste Kuznets curve hypothesis using the absolute decoupling method. It is demonstrated that the turning point for household municipal solid waste is approximately 3.7 million yen per person, which is far less than the maximum income in the sample. The success of our study partially stems from our highly disaggregated data and use of a spatial econometrics model that accounts for the mimicking behavior of neighboring municipalities. The former aspect indicates that distinguishing between household and business waste reveals the waste-income relationship, whereas the latter indicates the importance of peer effects when municipal governments formulate waste-reduction policies.

Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2013-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://ir.lib.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/files/public/35277 ... 12/IDEC-DP2_3-10.pdf First version (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (http://ir.lib.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/files/public/35277/20141016204810776312/IDEC-DP2_3-10.pdf [301 Moved Permanently]--> http://ir.lib.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/files/public/3/35277/20141016204810776312/IDEC-DP2_3-10.pdf [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://ir.lib.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/files/public/3/35277/20141016204810776312/IDEC-DP2_3-10.pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hir:idecdp:3-10

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IDEC DP2 Series from Hiroshima University, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Keisuke Kawata (idecdp@hiroshima-u.ac.jp).