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Title: ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT: SOME ISSUES REVISITED
Authors: Dr. Ashir MEHTA
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Dr. Ashir MEHTA Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Faculty of Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara 390002, Gujarat, INDIA
MLA 8 MEHTA, Dr. Ashir. "ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT: SOME ISSUES REVISITED." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 3, no. 6, June 2018, pp. 2442-2464, ijsser.org/more2018.php?id=167. Accessed 2018. APA MEHTA, D. (2018, June). ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT: SOME ISSUES REVISITED. Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, 3(6), 2442-2464. Retrieved from ijsser.org/more2018.php?id=167 Chicago MEHTA, Dr. Ashir. "ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT: SOME ISSUES REVISITED." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research 3, no. 6 (June 2018), 2442-2464. Accessed , 2018. ijsser.org/more2018.php?id=167.
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Abstract: The most enduring explanation to the systematic relationship between economic growth and environmental quality has been the 'Environmental Kuznets' Curve (EKC). Since 1991, the EKC has become standard fare in technical conversations about environmental policy. This paper seeks to revisit and test the EKC in a comprehensive 'world-view' perspective by tracking all countries of the world in a cross-section, classifying them on the basis of their income levels and estimating the EKC for each sub-group of countries. In the process, it also relates the issue of health expenditures with environmental deterioration. The link between energy use in terms of traditional fuel and electricity consumption and environmental pollution is also explored. The principle measure of environmental quality used in the study is per capita CO2 emissions. The study makes use of secondary data on per capita CO2 emissions (metric tons in 2000), per capita GDP (in 2002 US$), per capita health expenditures, use of traditional fuel as % of total energy requirements, and electricity consumption per capita (in kilowatt hours). Data for subsequent analysis are drawn from UNDP's Human Development Report, 2004 which report data on all the above variables for the year 2000 and 2002. The complete list of countries selected on the basis of availability of data on all variables, is given in the Appendix. The study reveals that while the EKC is indeed valid for the high-income countries, such relationship is not observed for the low-income and middle-income countries i.e. the latter have yet to reach the turning point, threshold level of income. Also, given the nature of relationship between growth and environment combined with the adverse health impacts of a deteriorating environment, it is not surprising to find a kuznets relationship of health expenditures with rising incomes for all income sub-group countries. The relationship between energy consumption and environment quality is stronger for low- and middle-income sub-group and weak for the high-income sub-group.

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