چکیده:
The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is an empirical inverted U-shaped relationship between pollution and income. In the early stages of economic growth, pollution increases but beyond some level of income per capita the trend reverses. In this paper, we examine the validity of EKC for a sample of 13 Middle East countries. Sample period include 1998-2003. A large number of EKC studies focus only on developed countries or a sample of developed and developing countries but for the first time our sample consist solely of emissions from Middle Eastern countries. We have used CO, as the main pollutant factor in this study. Our log-log specification results suggest a monotonic and increasing relationship between-income and pollution, but regression coefficients are not statistically significant. However, in our linear model all the coefficients are statistically significant and the EKC hypothesis can not be rejected.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Iranian Economic Research Quarterly/Year 10/Issue 34/Spring 2008/Pages 57-71 Investigating the Environmental Kuznets Curve in the Middle East Dr. Mohammad Hossein Pourkazemi* Elnaz Ebrahimi** Submission Date: 8/8/07 Acceptance Date: 17/2/08 Abstract The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) 1, which is an inverted U-shaped relationship between pollution and income, is considered an interesting generalization regarding how a country's transition from poverty toward relative prosperity affects changes in environmental quality.
Between the two selected models, the results of the log-log model suggest a monotonic increasing relationship between pollution and income, but the results are weak and the coefficients of the variables are not statistically significant; whereas resorting to the simple model leads to the confirmation of the EKC hypothesis for the sample under study, and the coefficients of the variables are significant.
Although the turning point for the EKCs estimated in various studies is different, almost all research findings share the point that the EKC hypothesis is valid for four pollutants: SO2, SPM, CO, NOx. Since all these pollutants have a short lifespan, they are considered flow variables.
Hsiao With this explanation, the EKC estimation results for a sample consisting of 312 observations for 13 Middle Eastern countries regarding CO2, using both simple and logarithmic models, are presented in the next section.
The model estimation results indicate a better fit for the simple model; such that in the model where the data are at the level used, all coefficients are significant at the 95% confidence level, and their combination indicates the confirmation of the EKC hypothesis in Middle Eastern countries.
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