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The sources of the Kuznets relationship between road fatalities and economic growth

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  • Law, Teik Hua
  • Noland, Robert B.
  • Evans, Andrew W.

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an empirical analysis of the Kuznets curve relationship between per capita income and road fatalities across 60 countries over the period 1972–2004. This relationship hypothesizes that the number of road fatalities increases with increasing motorization in the early stages of economic growth. Eventually, due to advances in technical, policy and political institutions, it declines as per capita income increases. The quality of political institutions as well as improvements in medical care and technology are hypothesized to impact road fatalities. Results indicate evidence of a Kuznets curve relationship between per capita income and road fatalities for both highly developed and less developed countries and support our hypothesis that changes in institutional quality and medical improvements underlie the Kuznets relationship. The evidence presented in this study suggests that lowering corruption levels as well as improvements in medical care and technology would help to reduce road fatalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Law, Teik Hua & Noland, Robert B. & Evans, Andrew W., 2011. "The sources of the Kuznets relationship between road fatalities and economic growth," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 355-365.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:19:y:2011:i:2:p:355-365
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2010.02.004
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    Cited by:

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    2. Cuiping Ren & Qunqi Wu & Chunguo Zhang & Shengzhong Zhang, 2018. "A Normal Distribution-Based Methodology for Analysis of Fatal Accidents in Land Hazardous Material Transportation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-12, July.
    3. Kazimierz Jamroz & Marcin Budzyński & Aleksandra Romanowska & Joanna Żukowska & Jacek Oskarbski & Wojciech Kustra, 2019. "Experiences and Challenges in Fatality Reduction on Polish Roads," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-32, February.
    4. Loo, Becky P.Y. & Banister, David, 2016. "Decoupling transport from economic growth: Extending the debate to include environmental and social externalities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 134-144.
    5. Lin, Yi-Chen, 2016. "The global distribution of the burden of road traffic injuries: Evolution and intra-distribution mobility," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 77-91.
    6. David B. Audretsch & Erik E. Lehmann & Julian Schenkenhofer, 2021. "A Context-Choice Model of Niche Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1276-1303, September.
    7. Harizi Riadh, 2021. "Land artificialization, economic growth, and road insecurity: Theoretical improvements and empirical validation for the case of Algeria," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 18(1), pages 241-255, April.
    8. Xingpei Yan & Zheng Zhu, 2020. "City-Level China Traffic Safety Analysis via Multi-Output and Clustering-Based Regression Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, April.
    9. Andrés Ramasco, 2023. "Not a Sip: Effects of Zero Tolerance Laws on Road Traffic Fatalities," Working Papers 289, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    10. Law, Teik Hua, 2015. "Factors associated with the relationship between non-fatal road injuries and economic growth," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 166-172.
    11. repec:thr:techub:10018:y:2021:i:1:p:241-255 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Haque, M. Ohidul & Haque, Tariq H., 2018. "Evaluating the effects of the road safety system approach in Brunei," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 594-607.
    13. Yajie Zou & Yue Zhang & Kai Cheng, 2021. "Exploring the Impact of Climate and Extreme Weather on Fatal Traffic Accidents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, January.
    14. Nishitateno, Shuhei & Burke, Paul J., 2014. "The motorcycle Kuznets curve," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 116-123.

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