Estimation of environmental Kuznets curve for SO2 emission: A case of Indian cities

Sinha, Avik and Bhattacharya, Joysankar (2017): Estimation of environmental Kuznets curve for SO2 emission: A case of Indian cities. Published in: Ecological Indicators , Vol. 72, (2017): pp. 881-894.

Abstract

Interaction between environmental degradation and economic growth is a growing matter of interest among policymakers. In this study, we have estimated Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for 139 Indian cities considering SO2 emissions. Study has been done for 2001-2013, and the data have been segregated by residential and industrial areas, and as well as low, medium, and high income areas. Fixed and random effect panel regressions have been used for analysis, along with a series of auxiliary regressions on orthogonally transformed dataset. By virtue of different forms of EKC being found, policy level decisions have been designed. Moreover, non-rejection of EKC hypothesis reemphasized the impact of growth catalyzing economic policy decisions on environment.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Environmental Kuznets curve; environmental degradation; income; SO2; Indian cities
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q53 - Air Pollution ; Water Pollution ; Noise ; Hazardous Waste ; Solid Waste ; Recycling

References

Akbostancı, E., Türüt-Aşık, S., Tunç, G.İ., 2009. The Relationship between Income and Environment in Turkey: Is there an Environmental Kuznets curve? Energy Policy. 37(3), 861-867.

Al Sayed, A.R., Sek, S.K., 2013. Environmental Kuznets Curve: Evidences from Developed and Developing Economies. Applied Mathematical Sciences. 7(22), 1081-1092.

Alam, M.M., Murad, M.W., Noman, A.H.M., Ozturk, I., 2016. Relationships among carbon emissions, economic growth, energy consumption and population growth: Testing Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis for Brazil, China, India and Indonesia. Ecological Indicators, 70, 466-479.

Aldy, J.E., 2005. An environmental Kuznets curve analysis of US state-level carbon dioxide emissions. The Journal of Environment & Development. 14(1), 48-72.

Alpay, S., 2005. Interactions among Economic Development, Openness to Trade and Environmental Sustainability with a Case Study on South Korea. The Journal of the Korean Economy, 6(1), 67-89.

Anand, S., Vrat, P., Dahiya, R.P., 2006. Application of a system dynamics approach for assessment and mitigation of CO2 emissions from the cement industry. Journal of Environmental Management, 79(4), 383-398.

Apergis, N., Payne, J.E., 2009. Energy consumption and economic growth in Central America: evidence from a panel cointegration and error correction model. Energy Economics. 31(2), 211-216.

Archibald, S.O., Banu, L.E., Bochniarz, Z., 2004. Market liberalisation and sustainability in transition: Turning points and trends in central and Eastern Europe. Environmental Politics. 13(1), 266-289.

Artés, F., Gómez, P., Aguayo, E., Escalona, V., Artés-Hernández, F., 2009. Sustainable sanitation techniques for keeping quality and safety of fresh-cut plant commodities. Postharvest Biology and Technology. 51(3), 287-296.

Aslanidis, N., Iranzo, S., 2009. Environment and development: is there a Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions?. Applied Economics. 41(6), 803-810.

Auffhammer, M., Carson, R.T., 2008. Forecasting the path of China’s CO2 Emissions using Province-level Information. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 55(3), 229-247.

Azar, C., Lindgren, K., Andersson, B.A., 2003. Global energy scenarios meeting stringent CO2 constraints—cost-effective fuel choices in the transportation sector. Energy Policy, 31(10), 961-976.

Barslund, M., Rand, J., Tarp, F., Chiconela, J., 2007. Understanding Victimization: The Case of Mozambique. World Development, 35(7), 1237-1258.

Bhattarai, M., Hammig, M., 2001. Institutions and the environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation: a cross country analysis for Latin America, Africa and Asia. World Development. 29(6), 995-1010.

Bimonte, S., 2002. Information access, income distribution, and the Environmental Kuznets Curve. Ecological Economics. 41(1), 145-156.

Binti Borhan, H., Musa Ahmed, E., 2010. Pollution as one of the determinants of income in Malaysia: Comparison between single and simultaneous equation estimators of an EKC. World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 7(3), 291-308.

Brain, J.D., Valberg, P.A., 1979. Deposition of aerosol in the respiratory tract 1–3. American Review of Respiratory Disease, 120(6), 1325-1373.

Carson, R.T., Jeon, Y., McCubbin, D.R., 1997. The relationship between air pollution emissions and income: US data. Environment and Development Economics. 2(4), 433-450.

Chen, Y., Sheng, G., Bi, X., Feng, Y., Mai, B., Fu, J., 2005. Emission factors for carbonaceous particles and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from residential coal combustion in China. Environmental Science & Technology, 39(6), 1861-1867.

Dasgupta, S., Laplante, B., Wang, H., Wheeler, D., 2002. Confronting the environmental Kuznets curve. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16(1), 147-168.

Deolalikar, A.B., Evenson, R.E., 1989. Technology production and technology purchase in Indian industry: An econometric analysis. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 71(4), 687-692.

Dijkgraaf, E., Vollebergh, H.R., 2005. A Test for Parameter Homogeneity in CO2 Panel EKC Estimations. Environmental and Resource Economics. 32(2), 229-239.

Dinda, S., 2004. Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: a survey. Ecological Economics, 49(4), 431-455.

Dinda, S., Coondoo, D., Pal, M., 2000. Air quality and economic growth: an empirical study. Ecological Economics, 34(3), 409-423.

Egli, H., 2001. Are cross-country studies of the Environmental Kuznets Curve misleading? New evidence from time series data for Germany. Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, Faculty of Law and Economics. Working paper no. 10/2001.

Feizpour, M.A., Shahmohammadi Mehrjardi, A., 2014. Comparative Advantages and Sustainable Development in Iranian Manufacturing Industries. Iranian Economic Review, 18(1), 33-52.

Fonkych, K., Lempert, R., 2005. Assessment of environmental Kuznets curves and socioeconomic drivers in IPCC’s SRES scenarios. The Journal of Environment & Development. 14(1), 27-47.

Friedl, B., Getzner, M., 2003. Determinants of CO2 Emissions in a Small Open Economy. Ecological Economics. 45(1), 133-148.

Friend, J.P., Leifer, R., Trichon, M., 1973. On the formation of stratospheric aerosols. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 30(3), 465-479.

Galeotti, M., Lanza, A., Pauli, F., 2006. Reassessing the environmental Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions: A robustness exercise. Ecological Economics. 57(1), 152-163.

Grossman, G.M., Krueger, A.B., 1991. Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement. National Bureau of Economic Research. Working paper no. w3914.

Grossman, G.M., Krueger, A.B., 1995. Economic Growth and the Environment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 110(2), 353-377.

Haq, Z.U., Tariq, S., Ali, M., 2015. Tropospheric NO2 Trends over South Asia during the Last Decade (2004–2014) Using OMI Data. Advances in Meteorology. 2015, 1-18.

Harbaugh, W.T., Levinson, A., Wilson, D.M., 2002. Reexamining the empirical evidence for an environmental Kuznets curve. Review of Economics and Statistics. 84(3), 541-551.

Hastwell, G., 1975. Salbutamol aerosol in premature labour. The Lancet, 306(7946), 1212-1213.

Hill, R.J., Magnani, E., 2002. An exploration of the conceptual and empirical basis of the environmental Kuznets curve. Australian Economic Papers. 41(2), 239-254.

Hindy, K.T., Farag, S.A., El-Taieb, N.M., 1990. Monthly and seasonal trends of total suspended particulate matter and smoke concentration in industrial and residential areas in Cairo. Atmospheric Environment. Part B. Urban Atmosphere, 24(2), 343-353.

Holtz-Eakin, D., Selden, T.M., 1995. Stoking the Fires? CO2 Emissions and Economic Growth. Journal of Public Economics. 57(1), 85-101.

Hubacek, K., Guan, D., Barua, A., 2007. Changing lifestyles and consumption patterns in developing countries: A scenario analysis for China and India. Futures, 39(9), 1084-1096.

Im, K.S., Pesaran, M.H., Shin, Y., 2003. Testing for Unit Roots in Heterogeneous Panels. Journal of Econometrics. 115(1), 53-74.

India Brand Equity Foundation, 2016. Power Sector in India - Solar, Renewable & Wind Energy Sectors. http://www.ibef.org/industry/power-sector-india.aspx (Accessed on June 15, 2016)

Kattan, M., Gergen, P.J., Eggleston, P., Visness, C.M., Mitchell, H.E., 2007. Health effects of indoor nitrogen dioxide and passive smoking on urban asthmatic children. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 120(3), 618-624.

Kaufmann, R.K., Davidsdottir, B., Garnham, S., Pauly, P., 1998. The determinants of atmospheric SO2 concentrations: reconsidering the environmental Kuznets curve. Ecological Economics. 25(2), 209-220.

Khanna, N., Plassmann, F., 2004. The demand for environmental quality and the environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis. Ecological Economics. 51(3), 225-236.

Krawczyk, E., Zajemska, M., Wyleciał, T., 2013. The chemical mechanism of SOx formation and elimination in coal combustion process. Chemik, 67(10), 856-862.

Kumar, N., Foster, A.D., 2009. Air quality interventions and spatial dynamics of air pollution in Delhi and its surroundings. International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 4(1-2), 85-111.

Kuznets, S., 1955. Economic Growth and Income Inequality. The American Economic Review. 45(1), 1-28.

Lantz, V., Feng, Q., 2006. Assessing income, population, and technology impacts on CO2 emissions in Canada: Where’s the EKC?. Ecological Economics. 57(2), 229-238.

Lau, S.S., 2011. Physical environment of tall residential buildings: the case of Hong Kong, in: Yuen, B., Yeh, A.G.O. (Eds.) High-rise living in Asian cities. Springer, Netherlands, pp. 25-47.

Leaderer, B.P., Zagraniski, R.T., Berwick, M., Stolwijk, J.A., 1986. Assessment of exposure to indoor air contaminants from combustion sources: methodology and application. American Journal of Epidemiology. 124(2), 275-289.

Levin, A., Lin, C.F., Chu, C.S., 2002. Unit Root Tests in Panel Data: Asymptotic and Finite Sample Properties. Journal of Econometrics. 108(1), 1-24.

Lindmark, M., 2002. An EKC-Pattern in Historical Perspective: Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Technology, Fuel Prices and Growth in Sweden 1870-1997. Ecological Economics. 42(1), 333-347.

List, J.A., Gallet, C.A., 1999. The environmental Kuznets curve: does one size fit all?. Ecological Economics. 31(3), 409-423.

Lu, Z., Zhang, Q., Streets, D.G., 2011. Sulfur dioxide and primary carbonaceous aerosol emissions in China and India, 1996–2010. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 11(18), 9839-9864.

Mallik, C., Lal, S., 2014. Seasonal characteristics of SO2, NO2, and CO emissions in and around the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 186(2), 1295-1310.

Martı́nez-Zarzoso, I., Bengochea-Morancho, A., 2004. Pooled mean group estimation of an environmental Kuznets curve for CO2. Economics Letters, 82(1), 121-126.

Mathew, J., Goyal, R., Taneja, K.K., Arora, N., 2015. Air pollution and respiratory health of school children in industrial, commercial and residential areas of Delhi. Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 8(4), 421-427.

Matsuoka, S., Matsumoto, R., Kochi, I., 1998. Economic growth and Environmental Quality in Developing Countries: A Verification of" Environmental Kuznets Curve. Environmental Science, 11(4), 349-362.

McConnell, K.E., 1997. Income and the demand for environmental quality. Environment and Development Economics, 2(4), 383-399.

Miah, M.D., Masum, M.F.H., Koike, M., Akther, S., Muhammed, N., 2011. Environmental Kuznets Curve: the case of Bangladesh for waste emission and suspended particulate matter. The Environmentalist, 31(1), 59-66.

Millimet, D.L., List, J.A., Stengos, T., 2003. The environmental Kuznets curve: Real progress or misspecified models?. Review of Economics and Statistics. 85(4), 1038-1047.

Mohapatra, G., Giri, A.K., 2009. Economic development and environmental quality: an econometric study in India. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal. 20(2), 175-191.

Moomaw, W.R., Unruh, G.C., 1997. Are environmental Kuznets curves misleading us? The case of CO2 emissions. Environment and Development Economics, 2(04), 451-463.

Mukhopadhyay, K., Forssell, O., 2005. An empirical investigation of air pollution from fossil fuel combustion and its impact on health in India during 1973–1974 to 1996–1997. Ecological Economics, 55(2), 235-250.

Musolesi, A., Mazzanti, M., Zoboli, R., 2010. A panel data heterogeneous Bayesian estimation of environmental Kuznets curves for CO2 emissions. Applied Economics. 42(18), 2275-2287.

Nakai, N., Jensen, M.L., 1967. Sources of atmospheric sulfur compounds. Geochemical Journal. 1(4), 199-210.

Onafowora, O.A., Owoye, O., 2014. Bounds testing approach to analysis of the environment Kuznets curve hypothesis. Energy Economics. 44, 47-62.

Orubu, C.O., Omotor, D.G., 2011. Environmental quality and economic growth: Searching for environmental Kuznets curves for air and water pollutants in Africa. Energy Policy, 39(7), 4178-4188.

Pachauri, S., Spreng, D., 2002. Direct and indirect energy requirements of households in India. Energy Policy, 30(6), 511-523.

Pachauri, S., Jiang, L., 2008. The household energy transition in India and China. Energy Policy, 36(11), 4022-4035.

Panayotou, T., 1993. Empirical Tests and Policy Analysis of Environmental Degradation at Different Stages of Economic Development. International Labour Organization. Working paper no. 292778.

Park, S., Lee, Y., 2011. Regional model of EKC for air pollution: Evidence from the Republic of Korea. Energy Policy. 39(10), 5840-5849.

Penkett, S., Jones, B.M.R., Brich, K.A., Eggleton, A.E., 1979. The importance of atmospheric ozone and hydrogen peroxide in oxidising sulphur dioxide in cloud and rainwater. Atmospheric Environment, 13(1), 123-137.

Raghuvanshi, S.P., Chandra, A., Raghav, A.K., 2006. Carbon dioxide emissions from coal based power generation in India. Energy Conversion and Management, 47(4), 427-441.

Reddy, M.S., Venkataraman, C., 2002. Inventory of aerosol and sulphur dioxide emissions from India: I—Fossil fuel combustion. Atmospheric Environment, 36(4), 677-697.

Ritchie, I.M., Oatman, L.A., 1983. Residential air pollution from kerosene heaters. Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association, 33(9), 879-881.

Roberts, J.T., Grimes, P.E., 1997. Carbon intensity and economic development 1962–1991: a brief exploration of the environmental Kuznets curve. World Development, 25(2), 191-198.

Roca, J., Alcántara, V., 2001. Energy intensity, CO2 emissions and the environmental Kuznets curve. The Spanish case. Energy Policy, 29(7), 553-556.

Roumasset, J., Burnett, K., Wang, H., 2006. Environmental resources and economic growth. World Bank, Washington, DC.

Rupasingha, A., Goetz, S.J., Debertin, D.L., Pagoulatos, A., 2004. The environmental Kuznets curve for US counties: A spatial econometric analysis with extensions. Papers in Regional Science, 83(2), 407-424.

Seigneur, C., Tesche, T.W., Roth, P.M., Liu, M.K., 1983. On the treatment of point source emissions in urban air quality modeling. Atmospheric Environment. 17(9), 1655-1676.

Selden, T.M., Song, D., 1994. Environmental Quality and Development: Is there a Kuznets Curve for Air Pollution Emissions?. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 27(2), 147-162.

Shafik, N., 1994. Economic development and environmental quality: an econometric analysis. Oxford Economic Papers. 46(4), 757-773.

Shahbaz, M., Solarin, S.A., Ozturk, I., 2016. Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis and the role of globalization in selected African countries. Ecological Indicators, 67, 623-636.

Sinha, A., 2014. Carbon Emissions and Mortality Rates: A Causal Analysis for India (1971-2010). International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories, 4(4), 486-492.

Sinha, A., 2015. Quadrilateral causal analysis of economic growth in India. International Journal of Green Economics, 9(3-4), 215-225.

Sinha, A., 2016. Trilateral association between SO2 / NO2 emission, inequality in energy intensity, and economic growth: A case of Indian cities. Atmospheric Pollution Research. 7(4), 647-658.

Sinha, A., Bhattacharya, J., 2014. Is energy-led economic growth causing climatic shift? A causal analysis for India. International Journal of Green Economics, 8(2), 120-133.

Sinha, A., Bhattacharya, J., 2016. Environmental Kuznets curve estimation for NO2 emission: A case of Indian cities. Ecological Indicators, 67, 1-11.

Sinha, A., Mehta, A., 2014. Causal Analysis of India’s Energy-led Growth and CO2 Emission (1960-2010). Indian Journal of Economics and Business. 13(1), 81-89.

Song, M.L., Zhang, W., Wang, S.H., 2013. Inflection point of environmental Kuznets curve in Mainland China. Energy Policy. 57, 14-20.

Soytas, U., Sari, R., Ewing, B.T., 2007. Energy consumption, income, and carbon emissions in the United States. Ecological Economics. 62(3), 482-489.

Sterling, T.D., Dimich, H., Kobayashi, D., 1982. Indoor byproduct levels of tobacco smoke: a critical review of the literature. Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association. 32(3), 250-259.

Stern, D.I., 2004. The rise and fall of the environmental Kuznets curve. World Development, 32(8), 1419-1439.

Suri, V., Chapman, D., 1998. Economic growth, trade and energy: implications for the environmental Kuznets curve. Ecological Economics. 25(2), 195-208.

Surratt, J.D., Lewandowski, M., Offenberg, J.H., Jaoui, M., Kleindienst, T.E., Edney, E.O., Seinfeld, J.H., 2007. Effect of acidity on secondary organic aerosol formation from isoprene. Environmental Science & Technology, 41(15), 5363-5369.

Tamazian, A., Chousa, J.P., Vadlamannati, K.C., 2009. Does higher economic and financial development lead to environmental degradation: evidence from BRIC countries. Energy Policy. 37(1), 246-253.

Taskin, F., Zaim, O., 2000. Searching for a Kuznets curve in environmental efficiency using kernel estimation. Economics Letters. 68(2), 217-223.

Torras, M., Boyce, J.K., 1998. Income, inequality, and pollution: a reassessment of the environmental Kuznets curve. Ecological economics, 25(2), 147-160.

Turco, R.P., Hamill, P., Toon, O.B., Whitten, R.C., Kiang, C.S., 1979. A one-dimensional model describing aerosol formation and evolution in the stratosphere: I. Physical processes and mathematical analogs. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 36(4), 699-717.

Vincent, J.R., 1997. Testing for environmental Kuznets curves within a developing country. Environment and Development Economics, 2(04), 417-431.

Welsch, H., 2004. Corruption, growth, and the environment: a cross-country analysis. Environment and Development Economics. 9(5), 663-693.

Wheeler, D., 2001. Racing to the bottom? Foreign investment and air pollution in developing countries. The Journal of Environment & Development, 10(3), 225-245.

Whitby, K.T., 1978. The physical characteristics of sulfur aerosols. Atmospheric Environment, 12(1), 135-159.