ENVIRONMENTAL-QUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT - IS THERE A KUZNETS CURVE FOR AIR-POLLUTION EMISSIONS

Several recent studies have identified inverted-U relationships betwee n pollution and economic development. We investigate this question usi ng a cross-national panel of data on emissions of four important air p ollutants: suspended particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nit rogen, and carbon monoxide. We find that per capita emissions of all f our pollutants exhibit inverted-U relationships with per capita GDP. W hile this suggests that emissions will decrease in the very long run, we forecast continued rapid growth in global emissions over the next s everal decades. (c) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.