The environmental Kuznets curve revisited once again

Margrethe Winslow

Forum for Social Economics, 2005, vol. 35, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: In the past decade, considerable attention has been paid to the hypothesized inverted U-shaped relationship between income level and environmental quality, known as the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). An overview of empirical studies of this relationship finds limited evidence for an EKC. The strongest evidence is with urban SO2 concentrations. A close examination of a seminal paper in this field, which first reported the relationship between income level and SO2 concentrations, finds the relationship weak at best. Given the limited evidence for an EKC, why is it still accepted as fact? This article suggests that it both serves the interests of powerful groups in society, and it corresponds to a notion that wealthy people care more about environmental quality than do poor people.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1007/BF02746011

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