Testing for an environmental Kuznets curve in Latin-American countries

This paper presents empirical estimates of Environmental Kuznets Curves for a panel of Latin-American countries over the period 1975-1998. It uses a new econometric technique that allows for more flexible assumptions in a panel data framework with a large time dimension. Unlike most previous studies we test for slope heterogeneity of the income coefficient in the search of a common empirical relation between carbon dioxide emissions and income. Our results point to the existence of some heterogeneity among countries, but with specific patterns for those sharing certain characteristics.Environmental Kuznets Curve, CO2 emissions, Latin-America countries, panel data, pooled mean-group estimates