Decoupling of Emissions and GDP: Evidence from Aggregate and Provincial Chinese Data
JOURNAL
Energy Economics
YEAR
Jun 4, 2019
TYPE
Articles in journals
AUTHORS
Jalles, J., Prakash Loungani , Ricardo Marto
VOL Nº
77
PAGES
105-118
ABSTRACT
We provide a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and GDP in China using both aggregate and provincial data. The trend or Kuznets elasticity is about 0.6 for China, higher than that in advanced countries but below that of major emerging markets. The elasticity is somewhat lower for consumption-based emissions than for production-based emissions, providing mild evidence consistent with the “pollution haven” hypothesis. The Kuznets elasticity is much lower for the last three decades than for the three previous decades, suggesting a longer-term trend toward decoupling as China has become richer. Further evidence of this comes from provincial data: richer provinces tend to have smaller Kuznets elasticities than poorer ones. In addition to the trend relationship, we find that there is a cyclical relation also holding in China.
JEL CLASS
E30;E32;O44;Q43;Q54;Q56
KEYWORDS
Emissions; Environmental Okun's Law; Environmental Kuznets Curve; China; Provinces