Environmental Kuznets Curves: Mess or Meaning?

The shape of the relationship between the rate of environmental degradation and income per capita has been the subject of much empirical examination. When test results based around this so-called ‘environmental Kuznets curve’ are compared, the empirical evidence is neither consistently supportive of its traditional inverted-U shape nor uniform across pollutants. A deeper understanding of the characteristics of pollutants and of the derived demand and derived supply of pollutants needs to be achieved if environmental Kuznets curves are to be useful.