The Long Run Relationship between Economic Growth and Environmental Quality

Abstract

One of the controversial debates in environmental economics, which began in the 1980s, is the relationship between environmental pollution and economic growth. The study investigated the relationship between per capita carbon dioxide emissions and gross domestic product per capita in 63 countries over 51 years during 1960 to 2010. Using a graphical analysis approach, the results of this study showed that the relationship between per capita carbon dioxide emissions and gross domestic product per capita amongst the sample data followed a sigmoid curve indicating that the per capita carbon dioxide emissions of a country increased when its economy transitioned from a labor-intensive technology to a capital-intensive one caused by an increase in the rate of economic growth. The results also showed that the amount of relative emissions varied amongst the countries. The variability could be imputed to the following reasons: (i) the heterogeneity in the structure of the economies, and (ii) the disparity in the mode of production used in the countries’ manufacturing processes.