Economists now recognize that, along with physical and human capital, environmental resources should be viewed as important economic assets, which can be called natural capital . Three recent debates have emerged over the role of natural capital in economic development. First, as many ecological services are unique, does the environment have an “essential” role in sustaining human welfare, and ...

This paper provides a specific application of the Environmental Kuznets curve is a hypothetical relationship between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. In the early stages of economic growth degradation and pollution increases, but beyond some level of income per capita it tends to reverse, so that at high economic growth leads to environmental improvement. T...

China is the largest total pollution emitter country on globe and a vast literature has investigated environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in China. Thus, we aim to review empirical studies testing of EKC using different proxies area samples The can be validated by establishing an inverted U-shaped or N-shaped relationship between economic growth. In this Chinese literature, validity fou...

More countries have made carbon neutral or net zero emission commitments since 2019. Within this context, re-examining the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis plays an essential role in sizing up global economic development situation and realizing reduction target. A methodological challenge testing EKC hypothesis, which states that increasing income makes CO2 emissions begin to declin...

1. Introduction The environmental Kuznets curve is a hypothesized relationship between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. In the early stages of economic growth degradation and pollution increase, but beyond some level of income per capita (which will vary for different indicators) the trend reverses, so that at high-income levels economic growth leads to env...

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and related approaches to human-environment problems (e.g., Forest Transition Theory) generally posit an inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental degradation and economic development, frequently utilizing a cross-national approach. After numerous years of research, the overall empirical evidence remains equivocal: case studies that appear to sup...

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) posits an inverted “U” shaped relationship between the affluence of a nation and the stress it places on the biophysical environment, with increases in affluence from low to moderate levels producing increased environmental stress but further increases eventually leading to a tipping point after which further affluence reduces environmental stress. We hypot...

In this study, based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework, we empirically examine the effects of trade openness and the level of economic development on pollution emission across the Chinese provinces. Our regression analysis shows that increasing trade openness contributes to higher pollution emission, where the effect of the former may be realized through its impacts on total fa...

In this paper, we explore a variety of models attempting to explain the pollution-income relationship (PIR). There has been much literature addressing the notion of an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). Many researchers find an EKC relationship for certain pollutants, while others do not find evidence of an EKC relationship. There is also literature formally critiquing the EKC. We employ cross-...