Economic Growth and Transboundary Pollution in Europe: An Empirical Analysis

The existing empirical evidence suggests that environmental Kuznets curvesonly exist for pollutants with semi-local and medium term impacts.Ansuategi and Perrings (2000) have considered the behavioral basis for thecorrelation observed between different spatial incidence of environmentaldegradation and the relation between economic growth and environmentalquality. They show that self-interested planners following a Nash-typestrategy tend to address environmental effects sequentially: addressingthose with the most immediate costs first, and those whose costs aredisplaced in space later. This paper tests such behavioral basis in thecontext of sulphur dioxide emissions in Europe.     

Evaluating Projects and Assessing Sustainable Development in Imperfect Economies

We are interested in three related questions:(1) How should accounting prices be estimated?(2) How should we evaluate policy change in animperfect economy? (3) How can we check whetherintergenerational well-being will be sustainedalong a projected economic programme? We do notpresume that the economy is convex, nor do weassume that the government optimizes on behalfof its citizens. We show that the same set ofaccounting prices should be used both forpolicy evaluation and for assessing whether ornot intergenerational welfare along a giveneconomic path will be sustained. We also showthat a comprehensive measure of wealth,computed in terms of the accounting prices, canbe used as an index for problems (2) and (3)above. The remainder of the paper is concernedwith rules for estimating the accounting pricesof several specific environmental naturalresources, transacted in a few well knowneconomic institutions.     

On a clear day you might see an environmental Kuznets curve

We shed some new light on the Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and show how it can be viewed as a particular form of equilibrium relationship, where technology and preference parameters determine the shape of the curve. In contrast to most of the literature on the EKC, we estimate a theoretically consistent model on long-run data (Swedish sulfur emission, covering the period 1900–2002). Furthermore, we test and date structural change. The model suggests four regimes, 1900–1918, 1919–1933, 1934–1967 and 1968–2002, generating four rather different patterns for pollution over time. The policy-conclusions are consonant with Pearce’s general view about the EKC: there is no theoretical presumption that it has an inverted U shape, nor should any country try to “grow out of the environmental problems” without analyzing the benefits and costs of so doing.     

环境库兹涅茨曲线假说及其在中国的检验

经济与环境协调发展是我国经济发展中的重大课题。本文从环境库兹涅茨曲线假说出发,利用中国各个省市区1989～2004年数据建立面板数据模型,运用固定效应模型和随机效应模型对其进行估计,以此剖析我国经济增长与环境污染水平的演变规律。结果表明,环境库兹涅茨曲线假说在我国并不成立。因此,我国不能盲目重复发达国家"先污染,后治理"的传统模式,而应该走环境与经济持续协调发展的道路。     

关于国际自由贸易与环境保护的理论多视角研究

由于立场不同。国际上关于自由贸易与环境保护的理论存在着较多分歧。本文主要从发达国家视角、发展中国家视角、全球视角这三个方面对相关理论进行了分类介绍和评述。文章最后对自由贸易和环境保护之间的关系进行了归纳，希望能对我国在可持续发展的基础上更好地开展自由贸易提供一些理论参考。     

The puzzle of greenhouse gas footprints of oil abundance

The present inquiry lays a groundwork for the analysis of the net greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of oil in the oil-abundant settings. To address the research question, the study puts forward a three-sector decision model, which provides a common ground for the assessment of the interaction of the structuralist and institutional factors influencing environmental pollution in the oil-reliant economies. The study shows that fossil-fuel abundance triggers forces, which induce diametrically opposed effects concerning atmospheric pollution. These are the rising carbon-intensive oil extraction and processing and fossil-fueled power generation versus shrinkage of the carbon-intensive manufacturing and growth of the low-carbon tertiarization. The theoretical analysis enables compartmentalization of the essential factors, which determine GHG emissions in the respective countries. To assess the significance of the proposed theoretical framework, the study employs multivariate panel co-integration techniques and two-stage fixed effects estimations for a dataset of 38 oil-producing countries for the time period between 1960 and 2018. In contrast to the existing literature, this study drives apart from the black box approaches that employ just one omnibus variable, per capita income.     

环境库兹涅茨曲线假说检验研究进展与展望

[目的]EKC曲线描述的是生态环境质量随着经济增长呈现先恶化后改善的趋势,即存在倒“U”型关系。为了了解EKC假设检验目前研究现状与存在的主要问题,深入探讨未来研究重点和方向。[方法]系统梳理经济发展对生态环境质量影响的EKC假说检验文献,以期丰富EKC检验的理论基础,进一步促进经济、生态环境健康持续发展。[结果]各种污染物指标与人均GDP间呈现出倒“U”型、正“U”型、倒“N”型、线型(或“~”型)等多种关系。[结论]未来研究重点和方向是:(1)研究形成EKC曲线背后的作用机理;(2)合理构建反映整体生态环境质量综合指标及影响经济发展的多因素指标;(3)合理构建经济发展与生态环境相互作用的理论模型,并在研究中引入综合方法;运用空间计量模型实证检验EKC假说;(4)国内对小城镇和欠发达地区经济发展对生态环境影响的EKC假说检验。     

淮河流域的工业环境库兹涅茨曲线再检验——来自2005—2014年安徽省地级市面板数据

基于2005—2014年淮河流域安徽段8个地级市工业环境与经济相关统计数据,通过非参数Kernel函数估计描绘该区域人均GDP和工业污染排放物的动态演进过程,进而构建淮河流域环境库兹涅茨曲线(EKC)模型,考察淮河流域生态环境质量变迁与经济增长的关系。研究表明:该区域的经济发展水平整体处于上升阶段,随着时间推移地区之间差距拉大,而人均工业废水排放和人均工业废气排放的核密度估计分布图存在一定的相似性;人均工业废气排放量与人均GDP呈现线性关系,人均工业废水排放量和人均工业固体废弃物排放量与人均GDP之间均表现出正“U”型二次曲线关系,与典型的EKC曲线特征不是完全符合,安徽淮河流域大部分地区仍然处于随经济发展而生态环境不断恶化阶段。