Reexamining the Empirical Evidence for an Environmental Kuznets Curve

27 Pages Posted: 12 Jun 2000 Last revised: 29 Jul 2022

See all articles by William T. Harbaugh

William T. Harbaugh

University of Oregon - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Arik Levinson

Georgetown University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

David Wilson

University of Oregon - Department of Economics

Date Written: May 2000

Abstract

This paper uses an updated and revised panel data set on ambient air pollution in cities world-wide to examine the robustness of the evidence for the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between national income and pollution. We test the sensitivity of the pollution-income relationship to functional forms, to additional covariates, and to changes in the nations, cities, and years sampled. We find that the results are highly sensitive to these changes. We conclude that there is little empirical support for an inverted-U-shaped relationship between several important air pollutants and national income in these data.

Suggested Citation

Harbaugh, William T. and Levinson, Arik M. and Wilson, David, Reexamining the Empirical Evidence for an Environmental Kuznets Curve (May 2000). NBER Working Paper No. w7711, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=232097

William T. Harbaugh (Contact Author)

University of Oregon - Department of Economics ( email )

Eugene, OR 97403
United States
541-346-1244 (Phone)
541-346-1243 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Arik M. Levinson

Georgetown University - Department of Economics ( email )

Washington, DC 20057
United States
202-687-5571 (Phone)
202-687-6102 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

David Wilson

University of Oregon - Department of Economics

Eugene, OR 97403
United States

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