Is There a “Biodiversity Kuznets Curve” for the Main OECD Countries?

The innovative feature of this paper is its attempt to estimate by panel data methodology an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for biodiversity for OECD countries in the period 1990-2010. We use a biodiversity terrestrial and marine index and include in the equation proxies for trade, FDI and international agreements for biodiversity protection. According to our estimates the EKC hypothesis is partially verified. A preliminary policy implication coming from our results is that an increase in environmental-friendly production technology could be obtained devoting more economic resources to this purpose and not only waiting for a generalized increase in the income.