Air Pollution and Economic Growth in MENA Countries: Testing EKC Hypothesis

Abstract

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is one of the models describing the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between economic growth and the two environmental indicators (SO 2 emissions, CO 2 emissions) in 22 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. Based on a country level analysis and by using time series data, the study revealed that there is an evidence for SO 2-EKC for Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen, Morocco, Turkey and Libya. Our findings for CO 2 emissions also support an inverted U-shape pattern associated with the EKC hypothesis for Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey and Jordan. The results also showed that MENA region as a whole did not show EKC for SO 2 emissions and CO 2 emissions. Stricter policy measures and higher demands for the adoption of best environmental practices are required in order to generate an inverted U shaped curve relationship between GDP per capita and environmental degradation.

Economic Transformation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region: Is It Undergoing the Environmental Kuznets Curve?

“…Following the experience of economically developed parts of the world, one would expect economic growth and environmental pollution reflecting a reversed U-shaped relation. This implies that the environment would gradually deteriorate with economic growth, but after economic development has reached a certain level, the environmental pollution would be reduced, in line with the so called "Pollution First, Treatment Later" creed [4][5][6][7]. However, whether the BTH region also follows that pattern (i.e., pollution first and treatment later) still requires empirical verification.…”

Spatial Spillover Effects of Environmental Pollution in China’s Central Plains Urban Agglomeration

“…As to the rigorous econometric model, multiple terms of explanatory variables in the EKC model will lead to a higher probability of serious multicollinearity in its variables, which is not conducive to the accuracy of the results [32]. Therefore, this research follows the relatively mature approach [33][34][35], assuming that economic growth has a quadratic relationship with environmental pollution in the CPUA, bringing the control variables into the model as follows:…”

Influence of Infrastructure Development on Economic Growth in Brics Countries

“…This study used the various variables which have already been discussed in the above paragraph, such as GDP per Capita which was used by (Castelló and Doménech, 2002;Fedderke and Garlick, 2008;Hye and Lau, 2015), likewise variables GCF and other were used by previous studies like Borhan & Ahmed, 2012;Al-Rawashdeh et al, 2015;Zaman et al, 2016).…”