Economic Growth, Human Development and Environmental Pollution in the Selected Countries

Subject Areas : Applied Economics

منیره  Dizji ¹ (مسئول مکاتبات)
سلماز  Gholami nejad ² (ندارد)

Received: 2012-05-30 Accepted : 2012-11-17 Published : 2012-12-21

Keywords: Environmental Kuznets Curve, Economic growth, human development index, Water pollution,

Abstract :

This research examines the relationship between environmental pollution and economic growth of selected countries. We used panel data and employed the environmental hypothesis of Kuznets, for 22 countries for the period 2005-1997. In this study, the level of water contamination is used as an index for pollution and GDP per capita for economic growth. The adjusted human development index that includes many social variables such as health, political rights, civil liberties, adult literacy are also considered. Other variables include theindustrial value-added share of GDP, population density and the degree of economic openness .The results show that:There exist an inverted U relationship between pollution and economic growth, which confirms the Environmental hypothesis of Kuznets.Environmental pollution has a negative relationship with the human development index and the degree of economic openness.Environmental pollution has a positive relationship with industrial value-added.JEL Classification: O15,O40,Z19