IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v6y2014i8p5143-5161d39076.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Urbanization, Economic Development and Environmental Change

Author

Listed:
  • Shushu Li

    (Institute of Policy and Management, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China)

  • Yong Ma

    (China Financial Policy Research Center, School of Finance, Renmin University of China, Haidian District, 59 Zhong Guan Cun Street, Beijing 100872, China)

Abstract

This paper applies the pressure-state-response (PSR) model to establish environmental quality indices for 30 administrative regions in China from 2003 to 2011 and employs panel data analysis to study the relationships among the urbanization rate, economic development and environmental change. The results reveal a remarkable inverted-U-shaped relationship between the urbanization rate and changes in regional environmental quality; the “turning point” generally appears near an urbanization rate of 60%. In addition, the degree and mode of economic development have significant, but anisotropic effects on the regional environment. Generally, at a higher degree of economic development, the environment will tend to improve, but an extensive economic growth program that simply aims to increase GDP has a clear negative impact on the environment. Overall, the results of this paper not only further confirm the “environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis”, but also expand it in a manner. The analysis in this paper implies that the inverted-U-shaped evolving relationship between environmental quality and economic growth (urbanization) is universally applicable.

Suggested Citation

  • Shushu Li & Yong Ma, 2014. "Urbanization, Economic Development and Environmental Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(8), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:8:p:5143-5161:d:39076
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/8/5143/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/8/5143/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vukina, Tomislav & Beghin, John C. & Solakoglu, Ebru G., 1999. "Transition to markets and the environment: Effects of the change in the composition of manufacturing output," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 582-598, October.
    2. Stern, David I., 2004. "The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1419-1439, August.
    3. Stern , David I., 1998. "Progress on the environmental Kuznets curve?," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 173-196, May.
    4. Managi, Shunsuke & Jena, Pradyot Ranjan, 2008. "Environmental productivity and Kuznets curve in India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 432-440, April.
    5. Osman Zaim & Fatma Taskin, 2000. "A Kuznets Curve in Environmental Efficiency: An Application on OECD Countries," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 17(1), pages 21-36, September.
    6. Managi, Shunsuke, 2006. "Are there increasing returns to pollution abatement? Empirical analytics of the Environmental Kuznets Curve in pesticides," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 617-636, June.
    7. Halkos, George E. & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2013. "A conditional directional distance function approach for measuring regional environmental efficiency: Evidence from UK regions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 227(1), pages 182-189.
    8. Dinda, Soumyananda, 2004. "Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis: A Survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 431-455, August.
    9. Shafik, Nemat, 1994. "Economic Development and Environmental Quality: An Econometric Analysis," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 757-773, Supplemen.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katrin Millock & Cees Withagen, 2021. "Climate and Migration," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Anil Markandya & Dirk Rübbelke (ed.), CLIMATE AND DEVELOPMENT, chapter 10, pages 309-341, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Yifei Zhang & Sheng Li & Fang Zhang, 2020. "Does an Emissions Trading Policy Improve Environmental Efficiency? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, March.
    3. Stefano Gasparri, 2017. "Studying work in theory and practice: insights for a globalising academia from the IR trajectory in Italy," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 310-325, July.
    4. Shushu Li & Jinglan Zhang & Yong Ma, 2015. "Financial Development, Environmental Quality and Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-22, July.
    5. Wen-Cheng Lu, 2017. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Energy Consumption and Economic Growth: A Panel Cointegration Analysis for 16 Asian Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-15, November.
    6. Liye Wang & Xinli Ke & Assem Abu Hatab, 2020. "Trade-Offs between Economic Benefits and Ecosystem Services Value under Three Cropland Protection Scenarios for Wuhan City in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Lu Liu & Yuxin Meng & Qiying Ran, 2023. "The Impact and Mechanism of the Digital Economy on Carbon Emission Efficiency: A Perspective Based on Provincial Panel Data in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-15, September.
    8. Tang Yao & Yigang Wei & Jianhong Zhang & Yani Wang & Yunjiang Yu & Wenyang Huang, 2022. "What influences the urban sewage discharge in China? The effect of diversified factors on the urban sewage discharge in different regions of China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 6099-6135, May.
    9. Vladislav Valentinov & Gabriela Vaceková, 2015. "Sustainability of Rural Nonprofit Organizations: Czech Republic and Beyond," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-17, July.
    10. Cankun Ma & Md. Qamruzzaman, 2022. "An Asymmetric Nexus between Urbanization and Technological Innovation and Environmental Sustainability in Ethiopia and Egypt: What Is the Role of Renewable Energy?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-25, June.
    11. Leonidas C. Leonidou & Bilge Aykol & Saeed Samiee & Nikolaos Korfiatis, 2022. "A Meta-analysis of the Antecedents and Outcomes of Consumer Foreign Country Image Perceptions: The Moderating Role of Macro-level Country Differences," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(5), pages 741-784, October.
    12. Po Kou & Ying Han & Xiaoyuan Qi & Yuanxian Li, 2022. "Does China's policy of carbon emission trading deliver sulfur dioxide reduction co-benefits?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 6224-6245, May.
    13. Leilei Jiao & Fumin Deng & Xuedong Liang, 2017. "Sustainable Urbanization Synergy Degree Measures—A Case Study in Henan Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, December.
    14. Bridget O'Laughlin & Ashwani Saith, 2016. "Forum 2016," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 47(4), pages 876-901, July.
    15. Claudio Carnevale & Fabrizio Ferrari & Giorgio Guariso & Giuseppe Maffeis & Enrico Turrini & Marialuisa Volta, 2018. "Assessing the Economic and Environmental Sustainability of a Regional Air Quality Plan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    16. Clarence Tolliver & Hidemichi Fujii & Alexander Ryota Keeley & Shunsuke Managi, 2021. "Green Innovation and Finance in Asia," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 16(1), pages 67-87, January.
    17. Chao Bao & Dongmei He, 2015. "The Causal Relationship between Urbanization, Economic Growth and Water Use Change in Provincial China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-10, December.
    18. Valentinov, Vladislav & Vaceková, Gabriela, 2015. "Sustainability of Rural Nonprofit Organizations: Czech Republic and Beyond," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(8), pages 9890-9906.
    19. Schilling-Vacaflor, Almut & Lenschow, Andrea & Challies, Edward & Cotta, Benedetta & Newig, Jens, 2021. "Contextualizing certification and auditing: Soy certification and access of local communities to land and water in Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    20. Disheng Yi & Yusi Liu & Jiahui Qin & Jing Zhang, 2020. "Identifying Urban Traveling Hotspots Using an Interaction-Based Spatio-Temporal Data Field and Trajectory Data: A Case Study within the Sixth Ring Road of Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-20, November.
    21. Xiping Yang & Zhiyuan Zhao & Shiwei Lu, 2016. "Exploring Spatial-Temporal Patterns of Urban Human Mobility Hotspots," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-18, July.
    22. Kabiru Saidu Musa & Rabiu Maijama’a & Muktari Yakubu, 2021. "The Causality between Urbanization, Industrialization and Co2 Emissions in Nigeria: Evidence from Toda and Yamamoto Approach," Energy Economics Letters, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, June.
    23. Temitope Sade , AKINTUNDE & Mathew , ADAGUNODO & Oluwatosin Mary , ADERAJO & Bosede Esther , AKANBI, 2021. "The Effect Of Population And Financial Development On Environmental Health In Nigeria (1980-2019)," Annals of Spiru Haret University, Economic Series, Universitatea Spiru Haret, vol. 21(3), pages 149-165.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Antonio Musolesi & Roberto Zoboli, 2006. "A Bayesian Approach to the Estimation of Environmental Kuznets Curves for CO2 Emissions," Working Papers 2006.121, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    2. Béchir Ben Lahouel & Younes Ben Zaied & Guo-liang Yang & Maria-Giuseppina Bruna & Yaoyao Song, 2022. "A non-parametric decomposition of the environmental performance-income relationship: evidence from a non-linear model," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 313(1), pages 525-558, June.
    3. Mazzanti, Massimiliano & Montini, Anna & Zoboli, Roberto, 2006. "Municipal Waste Production, Economic Drivers, and 'New' Waste Policies: EKC Evidence from Italian Regional and Provincial Panel Data," Climate Change Modelling and Policy Working Papers 12053, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    4. Managi, Shunsuke & Jena, Pradyot Ranjan, 2008. "Environmental productivity and Kuznets curve in India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 432-440, April.
    5. Sabuj Kumar Mandal & Devleena Chakravarty, 2017. "Role of energy in estimating turning point of Environmental Kuznets Curve: an econometric analysis of the existing studies," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 19(2), pages 387-401, October.
    6. Sofien, Tiba & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy variables, environment and economic growth," MPRA Paper 82555, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Sep 2016.
    7. Neophyta Empora, 2017. "Air pollution spillovers and U.S. state productivity growth," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 06-2017, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    8. Jalil, Abdul & Mahmud, Syed F., 2009. "Environment Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions: A cointegration analysis for China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5167-5172, December.
    9. Jalil, Abdul & Feridun, Mete, 2011. "The impact of growth, energy and financial development on the environment in China: A cointegration analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 284-291, March.
    10. Jena, Pradyot Ranjan, 2009. "Estimating environmental efficiency and Kuznets curve for India," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51302, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Honma, Satoshi, 2012. "Environmental and economic efficiencies in the Asia-Pacific region," MPRA Paper 43361, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Sebri, Maamar, 2009. "La Zone Méditerranéenne Face à la Pollution de L’air : Une Investigation Econométrique [The Mediterranean Zone in front of Air pollution: an Econometric Investigation]," MPRA Paper 32382, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Kanjilal, Kakali & Ghosh, Sajal, 2013. "Environmental Kuznet’s curve for India: Evidence from tests for cointegration with unknown structuralbreaks," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 509-515.
    14. Granda, Catalina & Pérez, Luis Guillermo & Munoz, Juan Carlos, 2008. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve for Water Quality: An Analysis of its Appropriateness Using Unit Root and Cointegration Tests," Revista Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE, November.
    15. Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Roubaud, David & Farhani, Sahbi, 2018. "How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 356-367.
    16. Pascalau, Razvan & Qirjo, Dhimitri, 2017. "TTIP and the Environmental Kuznets Curve," MPRA Paper 80192, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Azam, Muhammad & Khan, Abdul Qayyum, 2016. "Testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis: A comparative empirical study for low, lower middle, upper middle and high income countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 556-567.
    18. Tiba, Sofien & Omri, Anis, 2017. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy, environment and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1129-1146.
    19. Halicioglu, Ferda, 2009. "An econometric study of CO2 emissions, energy consumption, income and foreign trade in Turkey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 1156-1164, March.
    20. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Anna Montini & Roberto Zoboli, 2008. "Environmental Kuznets Curves for Air Pollutant Emissions in Italy: Evidence from Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) Panel Data," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 277-301.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:8:p:5143-5161:d:39076. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.