Does income inequality harm the environment?: Empirical evidence from the United States

Jungho Baek and Guankerwon Gweisah

Energy Policy, 2013, vol. 62, issue C, 1434-1437

Abstract: This study revisits the growth-inequality-environment nexus in the context of country-specific time series data. The short- and long-run effects of income inequality, economic growth and energy consumption on CO2 emissions in the U.S. are examined using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach. We find that more equitable distribution of income in the U.S. results in better environmental quality in the short- and long-run. It is also found that, in both the short- and long-run, economic growth has a beneficial effect on environmental quality, whereas energy consumption has a detrimental effect on the environment.

Keywords: ARDL; Environment; Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (76)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:62:y:2013:i:c:p:1434-1437

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.07.097

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