ARE THERE ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE FOR CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS?
Jaewon Choi ,Faculty of Environmental Studies, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210. Valerie A. Luzadis , Faculty of Forestry, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210. Some empirical researchers have claimed that an environmental Kuznets relationship exists for certain pollutants (the inverted-U hypothesis between per capita income level and atmospheric air pollution). Incautious policy inference can be derived from this claim. That is, economic growth itself can be regarded as a remedy to environmental problems. Previous EKC studies have relied on technological advancement, increasing demand for quality environment, and stricter regulations in developed countries for the theoretical explanation of the phenomenon. Based on the notion of physical limitations to material production process, I hypothesize that emission of carbon dioxide monotonically increases as income increases, as opposed to the inverted U-shape relations
