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Do productivity improvements move us along the environmental Kuznets C urve?

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  • De, Fence Janine
  • Hanley, Nicholas
  • Turner, Karen

Abstract

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis focuses on the argument that rising prosperity will eventually be accompanied by falling pollution levels as a result of one or more of three factors: (1) structural change in the economy; (2) demand for environmental quality increasing at a more-than-proportional rate; (3) technological progress. Here, we focus on the third of these. In particular, energy efficiency is commonly regarded as a key element of climate policy in terms of achieving reductions in economy-wide CO2 emissions over time. However, a growing literature suggests that improvements in energy efficiency will lead to rebound (or backfire) effects that partially (or wholly) offset energy savings from efficiency improvements. In this paper we consider whether increasing labour productivity will have a more beneficial, or more predictable, impact on CO2/GDP ratios than improvements in energy efficiency. We do this by using CGE models of the Scottish regional and UK national economies to analyse the impacts of a simple 5% exogenous (and costless) increase in energy or labour augmenting technological progress.

Suggested Citation

  • De, Fence Janine & Hanley, Nicholas & Turner, Karen, 2009. "Do productivity improvements move us along the environmental Kuznets C urve?," Stirling Economics Discussion Papers 2009-02, University of Stirling, Division of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:stl:stledp:2009-02
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    Cited by:

    1. Nick Hanley & Karen Turner, 2009. "How do improvements in labour productivity in the Scottish economy affect the UK position on the Environmental Kuznets Curve?," Working Papers 0915, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    2. Aqib, Muhammad & Zaman, Khalid, 2023. "Greening the Workforce: The Power of Investing in Human Capital," MPRA Paper 116263, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Feb 2023.
    3. Colmenares, Gloria & Löschel, Andreas & Madlener, Reinhard, 2019. "The rebound effect and its representation in energy and climate models," CAWM Discussion Papers 106, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Computable general equilibrium models; Technical progress; Energy efficiency; Labour productivity; Environmental kuznets curve;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D57 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Input-Output Tables and Analysis
    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
    • R15 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Econometric and Input-Output Models; Other Methods
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy

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