Footnote:
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments May 2005 erstellt
Description:
The literature on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is incomplete in the sense that much of the theoretical and empirical literature are not properly linked. While the theoretical literature deals with the relationship between per capita income and net emissions much of the empirical literature deals with the relationship between environmental degradation and per capita income. The latter does not constitute a proper test of the former as environmental degradation is a function not only of present net emissions but also the historical buildup of pollutant stocks. This paper develops an accounting framework for incorporating stock buildup in accounting for environmental degradation. Second, it goes on to demonstrate the implications of an inverted U shaped curve for net emissions for the relationship between environmental degradation and per capita income and shows that there is no one to one correspondence between these two relationships. Third, it extends the present theory for determination of the level of net emissions to incorporate the stock effect and identifies the cases where incorporation of the stock effect is critical and where it is not