Economic Growth and the Environment

Gene Grossman and Alan Krueger

No 4634, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Using data assembled by the Global Environmental Monitoring System we examine the reduced-form relationship between various environmental indicators and the level of a country's per capita income. Our study covers four types of indicators: concentrations of urban air pollution; measures of the state of the oxygen regime in river basins; concentrations of fecal contaminants in river basins; and concentrations of heavy metals in river basins. We find no evidence that environmental quality deteriorates steadily with economic growth. Rather, for most indicators, economic growth brings an initial phase of deterioration followed by a subsequent phase of improvement. The turning points for the different pollutants vary, but in most cases they come before a country reaches a per capita income of $8,000.

JEL-codes: O57 Q25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994-02
Note: ITI PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (100)

Published as Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 110, 1995, pp. 353-378

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Journal Article: Economic Growth and the Environment (1995)
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