DOES ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNET’S CURVE EXIST FOR INDOOR AIR POLLUTION? EVIDENCE FROM INDIAN HOUSEHOLD LEVEL DATA

Existence of Environmental Kuznet’s Curve (EKC) is an empirical issue to analyze as evidence from the literature has been mixed. This study focuses on indoor air pollution generated from the use of fuels for cooking services to check for validity of EKC. Using household level data from three rounds of National Sample Survey over the period from 1983 to 2000, the study estimates aggregate ‘dirty’ and ‘clean’ fuel Engle curves. The study also estimates pollution-income relationship and uses the predicted indoor pollution to simulate EKC. The results show validation of EKC hypothesis, especially for the data corresponding to rural households. In contrast, indoor pollution shows declining trend in 1990s for the urban households. The spatial and temporal representations of pollution-income relationship presented in this study highlight stark difference between the rural and urban households along with their rate of progress towards ‘clean’ fuels and provide insights on potential policy responses that could enable faster transition of rural households towards ‘cleaner’ fuels.