This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

The Green Solow Model

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
William A. Brock
M. Scott Taylor

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

We demonstrate that a key empirical finding in environmental economics - The Environmental Kuznets Curve - and the core model of modern macroeconomics - the Solow model - are intimately related. Once we amend the Solow model to incorporate technological progress in abatement, the EKC is a necessary by product of convergence to a sustainable growth path. Our amended model, which we dub the Green Solow', generates an EKC relationship between both the flow of pollution emissions and income per capita, and the stock of environmental quality and income per capita. The resulting EKC may be humped shaped or strictly declining. We explain why current methods for estimating an EKC are likely to fail whenever they fail to account for cross-country heterogeneity in either initial conditions or deep parameters. We then develop an alternative empirical method closely related to tests of income convergence employed in the macro literature. Preliminary tests of the model's predictions are investigated using data from OECD countries.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w10557.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 10557.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Jun 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10557

Note: EFG EEE
Contact details of provider:
Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Phone: 617-868-3900
Email:
Web page: http://www.nber.org
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().

Related research
Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
E1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models
O0 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - General

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Lopez Ramon, 1994. "The Environment as a Factor of Production: The Effects of Economic Growth and Trade Liberalization," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 163-184, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2004. "Trade, Growth, and the Environment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(1), pages 7-71, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. William A. Brock & M. Scott Taylor, 2004. "Economic Growth and the Environment: A Review of Theory and Empirics," NBER Working Papers 10854, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. William A. Brock & M. Scott Taylor, 2003. "The Kindergarten Rule of Sustainable Growth," NBER Working Papers 9597, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Quah, Danny, 1993. "Galton's Fallacy and Tests of the Convergence Hypothesis," CEPR Discussion Papers 820, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Stokey, Nancy L, 1998. "Are There Limits to Growth?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(1), pages 1-31, February.
  7. Xepapadeas, Anastasios, 2005. "Economic growth and the environment," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 23, pages 1219-1271 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Baumol, William J & Wolff, Edward N, 1988. "Productivity Growth, Convergence, and Welfare: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1155-59, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Copeland, Brian R & Taylor, M Scott, 1994. "North-South Trade and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(3), pages 755-87, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Stern, David I. & Common, Michael S., 2001. "Is There an Environmental Kuznets Curve for Sulfur?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 162-178, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," NBER Working Papers 3120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Andreoni, James & Levinson, Arik, 2001. "The simple analytics of the environmental Kuznets curve," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 269-286, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. repec:att:wimass:192038 is not listed on IDEAS
  14. Junsoo Lee & John List, 2004. "Examining Trends of Criteria Air Pollutants: Are the Effects of Governmental Intervention Transitory?," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 29(1), pages 21-37, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. William Harbaugh & Arik Levinson & David Wilson, 2000. "Reexamining the Empirical Evidence for an Environmental Kuznets Curve," NBER Working Papers 7711, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Erwin Bulte & John A. List & Mark C. Strazicich, 2007. "Regulatory Federalism And The Distribution Of Air Pollutant Emissions," Journal of Regional Science, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(1), pages 155-178. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Friedman, Milton, 1992. "Do Old Fallacies Ever Die?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 2129-32, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. List, John A. & Gallet, Craig A., 1999. "The environmental Kuznets curve: does one size fit all?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 409-423, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Barbier, Edward B., 1997. "Introduction to the environmental Kuznets curve special issue," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(04), pages 369-381, November. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  20. Grossman, Gene M & Krueger, Alan B, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(2), pages 353-77, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  21. Durlauf, Steven N & Johnson, Paul A, 1995. "Multiple Regimes and Cross-Country Growth Behaviour," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 365-84, Oct.-Dec.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. John A. List, 1999. "Have Air Pollutant Emissions Converged Among U.S. Regions? Evidence from Unit Root Tests," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 66(1), pages 144-155, July.
  23. Durlauf, Steven N. & Quah, Danny T., 1999. "The new empirics of economic growth," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 235-308 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  24. Mankiw, N Gregory & Romer, David & Weil, David N, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(2), pages 407-37, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  25. De Long, J Bradford, 1988. "Productivity Growth, Convergence, and Welfare: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1138-54, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  26. Annegrete Bruvoll & Hege Medin, 2003. "Factors Behind the Environmental Kuznets Curve. A Decomposition of the Changes in Air Pollution," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 24(1), pages 27-48, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. Lans Bovenberg, A. & Smulders, Sjak, 1995. "Environmental quality and pollution-augmenting technological change in a two-sector endogenous growth model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 369-391, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Bernard, Andrew B & Durlauf, Steven N, 1995. "Convergence in International Output," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(2), pages 97-108, April-Jun. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  29. David I. Stern, 2003. "The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," Rensselaer Working Papers in Economics 0302, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Francisco Alvarez & Gustavo A. Marrero & Luis A. Puch, . "Air pollution and the macroeconomy across European countries," Working Papers 2005-10, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
  2. Vollebergh, Herman R.J. & Dijkgraag, Elbert & Melenberg, Bertrand, 2005. "Environmental Kuznets curves for CO2 : heterogeneity versus homogeneity," Discussion Paper 25, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  3. Michael Rauscher, 2009. "Green R&D versus End-of-Pipe Emission Abatement: A Model of Directed Technical Change," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 106, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  4. Ross McKitrick, 2007. "Why did US air pollution decline after 1970?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 491-513, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Per-Olov Johansson & Bengt Kriström, 2007. "On a clear day you might see an environmental Kuznets curve," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 37(1), pages 77-90, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Robert S. Pindyck, 2009. "Uncertain Outcomes and Climate Change Policy," NBER Working Papers 15259, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Jaunky, V.C & Khadaroo, A.J., 2008. "Health Care Expenditure And Gdp: An African Perspective," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 8(1), pages 131-146. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Catherine M. Chambers & Paul E. Chambers & John C. Whitehead, 2008. "Economic Growth and Threatened and Endangered Species Listings: A VAR Analysis," Working Papers 0801, University of Central Missouri, Department of Economics & Finance, revised May 2008. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Ekaterini Panopoulou & Theologos Pantelidis, 2009. "Club Convergence in Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 44(1), pages 47-70, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. William A. Brock & M. Scott Taylor, 2004. "Economic Growth and the Environment: A Review of Theory and Empirics," NBER Working Papers 10854, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Maria Cunha-e-Sá & Ana Reis, 2007. "The Optimal Timing of Adoption of a Green Technology," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 36(1), pages 35-55, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Peter Mulder & Henri Groot, 2007. "Sectoral Energy- and Labour-Productivity Convergence," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 36(1), pages 85-112, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. David I. Stern, 2004. "Diffusion of Emissions Abating Technology," Rensselaer Working Papers in Economics 0420, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  14. BERTINELLI, Luisito & STROBL, Eric & ZOU, Benteng, 2006. "Sustainable economic development and the environment: theory and evidence," CORE Discussion Papers 2006057, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  15. Paul Burke, 2008. "Economic growth and pollution in the long run: the case of carbon dioxide," Environmental Economics Research Hub Research Reports 0805, Environmental Economics Research Hub, Crawford School, Australian National University. [Downloadable!]
  16. Aldy, Joseph, 2006. "Divergence in State-Level Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Discussion Papers dp-06-07, Resources For the Future. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  17. Ordás Criado, Carlos & Valente, Simone & Stengos, Thanasis, 2009. "Growth and the pollution convergence hypothesis: A nonparametric approach," MPRA Paper 17492, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. Marco Barassi & Matthew Cole & Robert Elliott, 2008. "Stochastic Divergence or Convergence of Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Re-examining the Evidence," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 40(1), pages 121-137, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. KARRAS, Georgios, 2008. "GROWTH AND CONVERGENCE, 1950-2003. What Can We Learn from the Solow Model?," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 8(1), pages 5-18. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Hannes Egli & Thomas M. Steger, 2004. "A Dynamic Model of the Environmental Kuznets Curve : Turning Point and Public Poliy," Economics working paper series 04/33, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich, revised May 2005. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  21. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Anna Montini & Roberto Zoboli, 2007. "Economic Dynamics, Emission Trends and the EKC Hypothesis New Evidence Using NAMEA and Provincial Panel Data for Italy," Working Papers 2007.24, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. [Downloadable!]
  22. Hannes Egli, 2005. "A New Approach to Pollution Modelling in Models of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 141(III), pages 459-473, September. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  23. Manh Hung NGUYEN & Phu Nguyen-Van, 2008. "Growth and convergence in a model with renewable and nonrenewable resources," Working Papers 08.28.272, LERNA, University of Toulouse. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? About 1000 archives contribute their bibliographic data to RePEc.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-25.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.