Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation

Economists, ecologists, private industries and government decision-makers have long been interested in the relationships between economic growth and environmental quality. These relationships are often the subject of intense public policy debates such as the current debate surrounding global climate change issues. From an ecological or environmental perspective, the argument is often made that economic growth is bad for the environment. But, what story do the data tell? In order to address the question, a estimable model was used to analyze the effects between gross domestic product (GDP) and environmental indications for air pollution in over 100 metropolitan statistical areas in the United States from 2001-2005. The analysis is then expanded to examine the estimable relationship at the state level. The air pollution indicators include ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter. The results are mixed results. This study finds a statistically significant U-shaped relationship for some of the pollutants; however, the evidence is pretty weak with the exception of ground level ozone. This study does not find evidence to support the traditional EKC inverse U-shaped relationship. These results are compared and contrasted to previous studies providing insight into unresolved theoretical and empirical estimation issues and future research needs