Income Inequality and Carbon Emissions in the United States 1929–2019

33 Pages Posted: 31 May 2022

See all articles by Fredrik N. G. Andersson

Fredrik N. G. Andersson

Lund University School of Economics and Management

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between income inequality and carbon emissions in the United States between 1929 and 2019. We contribute to the literature by taking a long-term perspective, which allows us to study how the relationship has varied over time. Our results show that higher inequality was associated with lower emissions during the early part of the sample and higher emissions towards the end of the sample. Changes in consumption and investment patterns across income groups may partially explain the time-varying effect of inequality on emissions.

Keywords: Inequality, climate change, carbon emissions, income redistribution, taxation

Suggested Citation

Andersson, Fredrik N. G., Income Inequality and Carbon Emissions in the United States 1929–2019. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4123754 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4123754

Fredrik N. G. Andersson (Contact Author)

Lund University School of Economics and Management ( email )

Lund

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
48
Abstract Views
352
PlumX Metrics