The “advantage of latecomer” in abating air‐pollution: the East Asian experience

Toru Iwami

International Journal of Social Economics, 2005, vol. 32, issue 3, 184-202

Abstract: Purpose - Aims to focus on air pollution as one of the environmental problems that tends to improve at higher income levels.Design/methodology/approach– The paper provides a combination of narrative with argument and analysis.Findings– Between the early 1970s and the mid‐1980s, air pollution in Japan, in particular that caused by sulfur dioxide (SO2), was reduced to a remarkable degree. This reduction resulted from responses to mounting civil protest: governmental regulation policy on the one hand, and innovation of abatement technology and energy efficiency on the other. In large Southeast Asian cities, despite rapid economic growth, air pollution is less severe than it was in Japan in the early 1970s. This is because both government and industry in Southeast Asia took early initiatives to prevent environmental degradation, learning from the experiences of developed countries.Originality/value– The conclusions drawn help in understanding the prerequisites for reducing CO2emissions. If developed countries actually succeed in creating abatement technology for CO2, this will surely affect the development policy in developing countries.

Keywords: Air pollution; East Asia; Environmental management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

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:eme:ijsepp:03068290510580751

DOI: 10.1108/03068290510580751

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Social Economics is currently edited by Professor Terence Garrett

More articles in International Journal of Social Economics from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().