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Environmental Engel Curves: Indirect Emissions of Common Air Pollutants

Author

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  • Arik Levinson

    (Georgetown University and NBER)

  • James O’Brien

    (Gettysburg College)

Abstract

Environmental Engel curves (EECs) describe households’ incomes and the pollution necessary to produce the goods and services they consume. We calculate 29 annual EECs from 1984 to 2012 for point-source air pollutants in the United States, revealing three clear results: EECs slope upward, have income elasticities less than 1, and shift down over time. Even without changes to production techniques, pollution would have declined despite growing incomes. This improvement can be attributed about equally to two trends: household income growth represented by movement along inelastic EECs and economy-wide changes represented by downward shifts in EECs over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Arik Levinson & James O’Brien, 2019. "Environmental Engel Curves: Indirect Emissions of Common Air Pollutants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(1), pages 121-133, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:101:y:2019:i:1:p:121-133
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sager, Lutz, 2023. "The global consumer incidence of carbon pricing: Evidence from trade," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).
    2. Kopp, Thomas & Nabernegg, Markus, 2022. "Inequality and Environmental Impact – Can the Two Be Reduced Jointly?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    3. Sager, Lutz, 2019. "Income inequality and carbon consumption: Evidence from Environmental Engel curves," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(S1).
    4. Moritz A. Drupp & Ulrike Kornek & Jasper N. Meya & Lutz Sager, 2021. "Inequality and the Environment: The Economics of a Two-Headed Hydra," CESifo Working Paper Series 9447, CESifo.
    5. Döhler, Niklas & Wellenreuther, Claudia & Wolf, André, 2020. "Market dynamics of biodegradable bio-based plastics: Projections and linkages to European policies," HWWI Research Papers 193, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    6. Fouquet, Roger & O'Garra, Tanya, 2022. "In pursuit of progressive and effective climate policies: Comparing an air travel carbon tax and a frequent flyer levy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    7. Mattauch, Linus & Zhao, Jiaxin, 2021. "When standards have better distributional consequences than carbon taxes," INET Oxford Working Papers 2020-25, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    8. Francesco Nicolli & Marianna Gilli & Francesco Vona, 2022. "Inequality and Climate Change: Two Problems, One Solution?," Working Papers 2022.32, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    9. Lévay, Petra Zsuzsa & Vanhille, Josefine & Goedemé, Tim & Verbist, Gerlinde, 2021. "The association between the carbon footprint and the socio-economic characteristics of Belgian households," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    10. Claire Brunel & Arik Levinson, 2021. "Globalization and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Evidence from the United States," NBER Working Papers 28372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Eren Gürer & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2024. "Is there a Green Dividend of National Redistribution?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(1), pages 33-47, March.
    12. Zhao, Jiaxin & Mattauch, Linus, 2022. "When standards have better distributional consequences than carbon taxes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    13. Lévay, Petra Zsuzsa & Goedemé, Tim & Verbist, Gerlinde, 2023. "Income and expenditure elasticity of household carbon footprints. Some methodological considerations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    14. Never, Babette & Albert, Jose Ramon & Fuhrmann, Hanna & Gsell, Sebastian & Jaramillo, Miguel & Kuhn, Sascha & Senadza, Bernardin, 2020. "Carbon consumption patterns of emerging middle classes," IDOS Discussion Papers 13/2020, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    15. Marco Baudino, 2020. "Environmental Engel curves in Italy: A spatial econometric investigation," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(4), pages 999-1018, August.
    16. Tullio Mancini & Hector Calvo‐Pardo & Jose Olmo, 2022. "Environmental Engel curves: A neural network approach," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 71(5), pages 1543-1568, November.
    17. Ghoddusi, Hamed & Rodivilov, Alexander & Roy, Mandira, 2021. "Income elasticity of demand versus consumption: Implications for energy policy analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).

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