The environmental kuznets curve hypothesis states that as an economys per capita income increases, the total amount of environmental impact of economic activities initially grows, reaches a maximum and then falls. The kuznets hypothesis of inverted ucurve dependence of the income inequality on the absolute value of the average income is still an unresolved issue despite the growing number of theoretical and empirical research on this topic. April 30, 1901 july 8, 1985 was an american economist and statistician who received the 1971 nobel memorial prize in economic sciences for his empirically founded interpretation of economic growth which has led to new and deepened. The hypothesis states that at very low levels of income, income inequality must also be low, as practically everybody lives at, or close to, subsistence level. According to it, in the early stages of economic growth, the distribution of income. Some empirical evidence showed that the level of environmental degradation and per capita income follow an inverted ushaped pattern, just as income inequality and per capita income in the original kuznets curve.
Kuznets s views about the inverted u relationship between inequality and development and the subsequent transformation process have been under the lens of researchers for a long time. The rise and fall of the environmental kuznets curve. This paper provides a historical analysis of the changing significance of the most influential statement ever made on inequality and developmentsimon kuznetss inverted ucurve hypothesis. The environmental kuznets curve james van alstine and eric neumayer. Comparing 20% to 20%, a completely even distribution is expressed as 1. An alternative test of kuznets hypothesis springerlink. This paper uses a novel approach for testing kuznets hypothesis.
The environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis postulates an inverted ushaped relationship between different pollutants and economic growth. Stern department of economics, rensselaer polytechnic institute, troy, ny 12180, usa june 2003 1. It was first developed by economist simon kuznets in the 1950s, and proposed that as economies develop, they first typically increase in economic inequality get more socially divided, then finally. Moran 2005 describes the kuznets curve hypothesis as the most influential publication on inequality and development. Due to limitations of data he used an inequality measure of the ratio of income share of the richest 20 per cent of the population to the bottom 60 per cent of the population known as kuznets ratio. Kuznets inverted u hypothesis of income inequality. Our results, obtained using panel and country by country regressions, do not support kuznets hypothesis. Simon kuznets, 1962 inequality persists, and so does a global concern over it.
Kuznets curve has not survived without its share of critics. In economics, a kuznets curve graphs the hypothesis that as an economy develops, market. In the 1990s and onwards, the kuznets curve took on a new existence. There is no room for increased inequality because u shaped relationship rather than kuznets inverted u relationship. The empirical validity of this kuznets curve has been intensively inves. Thanks to the dynamic shift that is now extensively taking place both at the local and the global level. Deininger and squire 1998 in effect does this by counting countries with inverted u shaped inequality paths. One such contribution the literature of economics received was from the seminal work of simon kuznets. Kuznets inverted ucurve hypothesis examined on upto date. Kuznets also held professional appointments in economics and statistics at the university of pennsylvania 193054 and in economics at johns hopkins 195460 and harvard 196171. Marginal pdf of a the gini index and b the logarithm of gdp per capita. The kuznetsproposition, which is often referred to as the inverted u hypothesis, has been rationalized mainly in.
Federal top taxation has only shortterm negative impacts. The invertedu hypothesis paradigm originated from kuznets s initial observation of the growth and distribution of income inequality in the united states, germany, and england. This paper analyzes the historical data on the average income and the income inequality for the period 19792009 collected for 145. Pdf the kuznets hypothesis, that is, inequality first rises and then falls as the economy. Kuznets curve by mike moffatt updated august 30, 2017 the kuznets curve is a hypothetical curve that graphs economic inequality against income per capita over the course of economic development which was presumed to correlate with time.
The ekc represents an invertedu relationship between income and environmental degradation. Table 2 reports the results of the bounds ftest statistics. A successful theory of the kuznets curve should therefore not only explain the inverseu shaped pattern of inequality in the development experience of european. The kuznets curve hypothesis suggested that over time, the relationship between per capita income and economic inequality follows an inverted u shape. Kuznets synonyms, kuznets pronunciation, kuznets translation, english dictionary definition of kuznets. This curve is meant to illustrate economist simon kuznets 19011985 hypothesis about the behavior and. An example of an estimated ekc is shown in figure 1. Simon kuznets put forward the hypothesis that relationship between per capita national income and the degree of inequality in income distribution may be of the form of inverted u. Looking inside the available economic literature introduction. The paper then tests the validity of the kuznets hypothesis using panel data. Merits and limitations of kuznets curve research papers. The thesis first analyzes the possibility of the kuznets curve in china rural area theoretically. Several earlier papers have used nonparametric methods to look for a kuznets curve. The lack of longitudinal data has forced the use of crosssection or pooled datasets in order to draw conclusions about that.
An alternative test of kuznets hypothesis, the journal of. Population growth and the environmental kuznets curve. Following kuznets original insights, we test for an inverted u relationship between employment outside agriculture and income inequality, instead of the traditional focus on gdp per capita and income inequality. Some empirical evidence showed that the level of environmental degradation and per capita income follow an inverted u shaped pattern, just as income inequality and per capita income in the original kuznets curve. Introduction the environmental kuznets curve is a hypothesized relationship between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. The environmental kuznets curve ekc hypothesis postulates an inverted u shaped relationship between different pollutants and per capita income, i. Accordingly, we reject the null hypothesis of no cointegration among the variables and conclude that there is a longrun relationship among co 2. However it not clear that this is a test for a general kuznets. The study of inequality and economic growth to the developing countries are now a days a comprehensive issue since growth stimulate the standard of living to the poor people and accordingly reduce income inequality. The results show that an inverted u relationship between income per capita and income inequality only exists in the developing economies. Some economists argue that this theorem can be applied to all economies, and they have been using empirical evidence to prove this theorem and to determine the. It was the beginning to discuss the relationship between income distribution and development which later on became popular as kuznets inverted u hypothesis or kuznets curve. The kuznets hypothesis of inverted ucurve dependence of the income inequality.
Things get worse before they get better a classic cycle curve that all foresight professionals need to understand is the kuznets curve. Several theories have been put forward to explain the inverted ucurve hypothesis. Deininger and squire 1998 in effect does this by counting countries with invertedu shaped inequality paths. The paper then tests the validity of the kuznets hypothesis using panel data techniques and a crosscountry dataset. There is evidence that the level of environmental degradation and per capita income follows the same invertedushaped relationship as does income inequality and per capita income in the original kuznets curve. Pdf an appropriate test of the kuznets hypothesis researchgate. This implies that the environmental impact indicator is an inverted u shaped function of income per capita. The primary argument of critics of kuznets hypothesis and its resulting graphical representation is based on the countries used in kuznets data set. The improvement of inequality and growth may reduce the social movement to the government and may keep the economic and social integrity amongst the different ethnic. The kuznets ratio is a measurement of the ratio of income going to the highestearning households usually defined by the upper 20% and the income going to the lowestearning households, which is commonly measured by either the lowest 20% or lowest 40% of income. Kuznets definition of kuznets by the free dictionary. During the upward phase of the curve, per capita income and inequality increase together. James van alstine and eric neumayer the environmental.
Kuznets invertedu hypothesis implies that economic growth worsens income inequality first and improves it later at a higher stage of. The rise, demise, and continued relevance of a socioeconomic law timothy patrick moran1 this paper provides a historical analysis of the changing significance of the most influential statement ever made on inequality and developmentsimon kuznetss inverted ucurve hypothesis. Environment, human development and economic growth pdf. Kuznets curve inverted u curve for powerpoint slidemodel. The idea is that while wages remain stagnant in rural communities, some people in urban communities will become wealthy. The academia always argue about whether there is a kuznets curve for a long time, however, rare people care about kuznets curve in countryside.
During 193234 he served in the department of commerce, where he constructed the first official estimates of u. In a seminal paper, kuznets 1955 argued that as countries developed, income inequality. Download unlimited powerpoint templates, charts and graphics for your presentations with our annual plan. An altemative hypothesis to country income inequality. His books include national income and its composition and economic growth of nations. Typically the logarithm of the indicator is modeled as a quadratic function of the logarithm of income. Critics of the kuznets curve theory argue that its ushape comes not from. We find that as the employment share in goods producing activities falls, income inequality increases in the long run. Investigating the environmental kuznets curve hypothesis. An empirical examination of the environmental kuznets. The shifting interpretations and appropriations of the hypothesis over timefrom its status as a speculative supposition in 1955, to its rise and fall as a reified socioeconomic law, to its. View merits and limitations of kuznets curve research papers on academia.
According to williamson 1991 and barro 2000, technological change is responsible for the inverted u curve shape between inequality and. A metaanalysis of environmental kuznets curve studies. In ghana, as in many other developing countries, there exist scanty studies that confirm or otherwise the ekc hypothesis with regards to co 2 emissions as well as the factors that drive co 2 emissions. Bounds testing approach to analysis of the environment. The kuznets hypothesis suggests that as development proceeds a country will experience first rising then falling income inequality. In fact, kuznets himself emphasized the fragility of his data among other caveats in his paper. The table demonstrates that with co 2 emissions as the dependent variable, the computed fstatistic exceeds the upper bound of the 10%, 5%, and 1% critical values, for all countries. In the 1990s, the kuznets curve was reconsidered in a different context. This theory predicts an inverted ushaped relationship between. Kuznets curve diagrams show an inverted u curve, although variables along the. Introduction the environmental kuznets curve ekc is a hypothesized relationship between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. However, the existing literature analyzes the relationship between income inequality and per capita income, which is, at best, an incomplete measure of the multidimensional process of economic development. Kuznet s inverted u hypothesis basically states that in a developing country, incomes of people will get more unequal before they become more equal. The original kuznets curve 1955 suggested an inverted ushaped relationship between environment and national income.
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