Economic Growth and Environment Introduction Economic growth and the use of environmental resources go hand in hand. No country or economy will be able to sustain economic growth without using the natural resources available in the environment. The constant need for resources is the fuel for economic growth and any country going through a heightened level of economic activity tends to use more resources from the environment. Relationship between economic growth and environment The relationship between the economic growth of a country and the use of its environmental resources is inverted U-shaped. Also known as the Kuznets curve, the rapid pace of economic growth is characterized by depletion of resources as well as accumulation of waste. When the development reaches higher levels, the emphasis is more on information and knowledge-building and the usage of environmental resources stagnates. When the highest level of development is reached, the emphasis is turned to providing a higher quality of people for the residents of the country and this leads to a decrease in the use of environmental resources. Overall, the relationship curve starts off higher, stagnates and then decreases, resulting in an inverted U-shape (Panayotou, 1994). The first part of this relationship is highly evident among developing nations that are looking to strengthen its economic position. These countries, unfortunately, have to extensively tap into their natural resources to achieve sustained
One of the best examples of a country struggling with economic growth and regulation is China. Qing-hua Wang of the Beijing University Institute of Economics and Management conducted a study which looked at 16 districts and counties in Beijing from 2009 to 2014, to evaluate the impacts of new government regulations on businesses which intended to benefit the environment. The results of the study showed, “...the Beijing environmental regulation played a significant role in economic development.” Analysis of the study suggested increasing economic or environmental regulation hinders economic growth due to making the affected companies and industries comparatively more expensive which leads to a loss in profit. For
Collier asserts that the poorest states are in need of rapid economic growth which creates tension between poverty reduction and the perversion of nature. This is most evident in China where their desire to grow economically has come at the price of pollution. While China has grown exponentially economically and have reduced poverty, this growth is not sustainable due to their negligence of the environment. The level of pollution in major cities has hurt the Chinese economy because individuals are refusing to do business there due to health concerns. This effects Chinese businesses and their tourism industry. More times than not, states will choose economic growth, however, in the long run this choice will negatively impact their economy.
Economic growth is defined as the rate of growth of the whole income of a nation and is the most efficient indicator of an economy 's health... And wealth.
10. It is difficult to find the relationship between population growth and economic development, but some econismost believe that population growth stimulations economic development and technological innovation. Others think that rapidly expanding populations hamper down on developmental efforts. A slower, more stabilized population growth would help other issues in the world (poverty, hunger, underdevoplement, etc.), and in turn, will promote economic development.
Other studies have been completed that suggest evidence against an Environmental Kuznets Curve. It is safe to say that a nation with environmental regulations is a nation that is more developed and has higher income per capita, such that they can spare growth for protection of the environment. A nation that is less developed can’t make the sacrifice for the protection of the environment and must focus solely on economic growth.
To conclude, economic growth is quite clearly beneficial for global economies in the present day. There is great improvement in the standard of living, rising unemployment, greater business confidence and potential environmental benefits due to
Concerns about the relation between economic growth and development, and environmental issues have been emerging, including the discussion whether fundamental changes in society is required to realize long-term environmental sustainability. Several measures have been introduced in order to address climate change; on the other hand, the extent to which climate change has changed the way we understand economic growth and development is controversial. This essay will argue that climate change has changed the way we understand economic growth and development to a limiting extent with the following underpinnings; powerful economic institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have not taken environmental issues into
Whenever the issue of environmental management arises, it causes a stir in both the political and social circles. There are always comparisons between the environmental situations in different parts of the world. This paper focuses on factors affecting the overall influence that certain economic elements have on the environmental quality. Such factors may include lack of proper knowledge and inadequacy of resources. It is important to note that various components define the environment, such as the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis (EKC). The EKC and the citizens of a developing country can explain the reasons for the state of environmental quality in developing countries.
Economic development is one perspective which plays a huge role in sustainability and the environment we live in. Unfortunately, many people do not reap the benefits of a prosperous economy, and in fact, the relationship between economy and the environment play a pivotal influence regarding ineffective sustainability currently throughout the world. Michael Carley and Phillipe Spapens write in their book ‘Sharing
The Kuznets curve is firstly introduced in 1955 by Kuznets as an inverted-U relationship between income inequality and economic development. Later it is found that the Kuznets curve is useful for describing the relationship between environmental pressure and the economic growth or known as the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) (Dinda, 2004). The hypothesis of the EKC is that at early stages of a country’s development, the quality of its environment will be deteriorated faster and getting slow down at some level of income per capita that the economic growth support the increasing of environmental performance (Stern, 2004). The EKC applies differently between countries depend on the economic growth status of the country. This essay will discuss the different appearance of the EKC using the evidences from developing and developed countries. The EKC of developing countries will show the upward slope stage of the curve because of the countries’ focus on economic growth and less protection to the environment. Conversely, the developed countries will show the later downward slope stage of the EKC as their economic growth is already high and there is more attention for environmental protection.
Natural resources undoubtedly play an important role in the economy of many countries. Whether their contribution to development is beneficial or detrimental is a contested and difficult question to answer. Arguably countries like Australia, U.A.E. and Norway have gained enormously over long periods from their natural resources, others like Iran and Russia have gained in economic growth terms but maybe at the expense of institutional development, while in some countries, such as Angola and Sierra Leone, natural resources have been at the heart of violent conflicts with devastating effects for society. With many developing countries being highly resource dependent, a deeper understanding of the sources and solutions to the potential problem of natural resources is highly relevant.
Despite common opinion, having natural resources could not be always a bless for a country. With this paper we want to provide an overall idea of the influence of natural resources wealth on the economic growth. Starting from an initial explanation of
The Ecological Consequences of Global Economic Growth “There have been five ‘ mass extinctions’ in the history of the earth, when between 65% and 95% of all species were wiped out, due to natural processes of selection and evolution. Some scientists now argue that we are heading for a ‘sixth extinction’, caused by the actions of humans.” (Cock and Hopwood, 1996:17) In the following I’m going to look at the positive and negative effects of the ecological systems of global economic growth and the effects on economic loss, and briefly discuss the concept of ‘risk’, and the consequences of ‘population growth’.
Energy policy, environmental planning and economic development play a key role in sustainable development. Economic growth is closely linked to energy consumption since higher level of energy consumption leads to higher economic growth. Energy consumption is also closely linked with environmental pollutant. Environmental decisions are often complex and multifaceted and involve many different stakeholders with different priorities on objectives. Energy consumption, environmental planning and economic growth have been the subject of considerable academic research over the past few decades.
The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesized an “inverted U-shaped” graph representing a positive correlation between economic developments and environmental degradation in short-term setting but when a certain per capita income is breached in the long run, a turning point will emerge and the correlation will be reversed (Cole, 1999). The relationship of environment and economic growth was conceptualized through the paper written by Grossman and Krueger (Agras and Chapman, 1999). Grossman and Krueger (1992) measured economic growth by using GDP per capita, Trade: (X+M)/GDP, and population density against two major environmental