IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v19y2011i2p355-365.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096669231000013X
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2010.02.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feng, Yi, 1997. "Democracy, Political Stability and Economic Growth," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(3), pages 391-418, July.
    2. Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz & Luis A. Rivera-Batiz, 2018. "Democracy, Governance, and Economic Growth: Theory and Evidence," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Francisco L Rivera-Batiz & Luis A Rivera-Batiz (ed.), International Trade, Capital Flows and Economic Development, chapter 8, pages 215-248, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Bauer, Mariano & Mar, Elizabeth & Elizalde, Alberto, 2003. "Transport and energy demand in Mexico: the personal income shock," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(14), pages 1475-1480, November.
    4. Hongyi Li & Lixin Colin Xu & Heng‐fu Zou, 2000. "Corruption, Income Distribution, and Growth," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 155-182, July.
    5. Baliamoune-Lutz, Mina & Addison, Tony, 2007. "Economic reform when institutional quality is weak: The case of the Maghreb," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 65-79.
    6. Williams, A.F. & Carsten, O., 1989. "Driver age and crash involvement," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 79(3), pages 326-327.
    7. Per Fredriksson & Eric Neumayer & Gergely Ujhelyi, 2007. "Kyoto Protocol cooperation: Does government corruption facilitate environmental lobbying?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 231-251, October.
    8. Culas, Richard J., 2007. "Deforestation and the environmental Kuznets curve: An institutional perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 429-437, March.
    9. Saiz, Albert, 2006. "Dictatorships and highways," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 187-206, March.
    10. Hausman, Jerry & Hall, Bronwyn H & Griliches, Zvi, 1984. "Econometric Models for Count Data with an Application to the Patents-R&D Relationship," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(4), pages 909-938, July.
    11. Nejat Anbarci & Monica Escaleras & Charles A. Register, 2009. "Traffic fatalities: does income inequality create an externality?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(1), pages 244-266, February.
    12. Mo, Pak Hung, 2001. "Corruption and Economic Growth," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 66-79, March.
    13. Barbier, Edward B., 1997. "Introduction to the environmental Kuznets curve special issue," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(4), pages 357-367, November.
    14. Fredriksson, Per G. & Svensson, Jakob, 2003. "Political instability, corruption and policy formation: the case of environmental policy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(7-8), pages 1383-1405, August.
    15. Dargay, Joyce & Gately, Dermot, 1999. "Income's effect on car and vehicle ownership, worldwide: 1960-2015," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 101-138, February.
    16. Kavi Bhalla & Majid Ezzati & Ajay Mahal & Joshua Salomon & Michael Reich, 2007. "A Risk‐Based Method for Modeling Traffic Fatalities," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 125-136, February.
    17. Nejat Anbarci & Monica Escaleras & Charles Register, 2006. "Traffic Fatalities and Public Sector Corruption," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 327-344, August.
    18. David Bishai & Asma Quresh & Prashant James & Abdul Ghaffar, 2006. "National road casualties and economic development," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(1), pages 65-81, January.
    19. Cole, Matthew A., 2003. "Development, trade, and the environment: how robust is the Environmental Kuznets Curve?," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(4), pages 557-580, October.
    20. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1995. "Institutions And Economic Performance: Cross‐Country Tests Using Alternative Institutional Measures," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(3), pages 207-227, November.
    21. Welsch, Heinz, 2004. "Corruption, growth, and the environment: a cross-country analysis," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(5), pages 663-693, October.
    22. Cole, Matthew A., 2007. "Corruption, income and the environment: An empirical analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 637-647, May.
    23. Scully, Gerald W, 1988. "The Institutional Framework and Economic Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(3), pages 652-662, June.
    24. Knack, Stephen & Keefer, Philip, 1995. "Institutions and Economic Performance: Cross-Country Tests Using Alternative Institutional Indicators," MPRA Paper 23118, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    25. World Bank, 2007. "World Development Indicators 2007," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 8150.
    26. Daniel Shefer & Piet Rietveld, 1997. "Congestion and Safety on Highways: Towards an Analytical Model," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 34(4), pages 679-692, April.
    27. repec:bla:rdevec:v:6:y:2002:i:2:p:225-47 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Bhattarai, Madhusudan & Hammig, Michael, 2004. "Governance, economic policy, and the environmental Kuznets curve for natural tropical forests," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 367-382, July.
    29. Mr. Vito Tanzi & Mr. Hamid R Davoodi, 1997. "Corruption, Public Investment, and Growth," IMF Working Papers 1997/139, International Monetary Fund.
    30. Olson, Mancur, 1993. "Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(3), pages 567-576, September.
    31. Paolo Mauro, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712.
    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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).
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Nishitateno, Shuhei & Burke, Paul J., 2014. "The motorcycle Kuznets curve," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 116-123.
    9. Zhilun Jiao & Muhammad Shafiullah & Usman Khalid & Malin Song & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2024. "The economic growth–travel frequency nexus in China: Importance of the transport Kuznets curve," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 898-929, March.
    10. Xibing Li & Jiao Liu & Jian Zhou & Xiling Liu & Lei Zhou & Wei Wei, 2020. "The Effects of Macroeconomic Factors on Road Traffic Safety: A Study Based on the ARDL-ECM Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-16, December.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Zheng, Qing Yuan & Law, Teik Hua & Wong, Shaw Voon & Ng, Choy Peng, 2024. "Relative improvements between roads and railways and economic performance: A panel data analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 87-96.

    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. Biswas, Amit K. & Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza & Thum, Marcel, 2012. "Pollution, shadow economy and corruption: Theory and evidence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 114-125.
    2. Arminen, Heli & Menegaki, Angeliki N., 2019. "Corruption, climate and the energy-environment-growth nexus," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 621-634.
    3. Bin Dong & Benno Torgler, 2010. "The Consequences of Corruption: Evidence from China," Working Papers 2010.73, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    4. Halkos, George E. & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2013. "Carbon dioxide emissions and governance: A nonparametric analysis for the G-20," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 110-118.
    5. Leitão, Alexandra, 2010. "Corruption and the environmental Kuznets Curve: Empirical evidence for sulfur," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2191-2201, September.
    6. Bin Dong & Benno Torgler, 2010. "The Consequences of Corruption: Evidence from China," Working Papers 2010.73, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    7. Blackburn, Keith & Forgues-Puccio, Gonzalo F., 2009. "Why is corruption less harmful in some countries than in others?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 797-810, December.
    8. Ghulam Shabbir & Mumtaz Anwar & Shahid Adil, 2016. "Corruption, Political Stability and Economic Growth," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 689-702.
    9. Bienvenido Ortega & Antonio Casquero & Jesús Sanjuán, 2016. "Corruption and Convergence in Human Development: Evidence from 69 Countries During 1990–2012," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 691-719, June.
    10. Oluremi Ogun, 2018. "Corruption And Growth: The Productivity Growth Nexus," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 63(05), pages 1227-1244, December.
    11. Keith Blackburn & Gareth Downing, 2015. "Deconcentration, Corruption and Economic Growth," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 209, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    12. 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.
    13. Graf Lambsdorff, Johann, 2005. "Consequences and causes of corruption: What do we know from a cross-section of countries?," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe V-34-05, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    14. Ahmet Faruk AYSAN & Mustapha Kamel NABLI & Marie‐Ange VÉGANZONÈS‐VAROUDAKIS, 2007. "Governance Institutions And Private Investment: An Application To The Middle East And North Africa," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 45(3), pages 339-377, September.
    15. Shrabani Saha & Kunal Sen, 2019. "The corruption-growth relationship: Do political institutions matter?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-65, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Maurizio Lisciandra & Carlo Migliardo, 2017. "An Empirical Study of the Impact of Corruption on Environmental Performance: Evidence from Panel Data," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(2), pages 297-318, October.
    17. Keith Blackburn & Rashmi Sarmah, 2006. "Red Tape, Corruption and Finance," Economics Discussion Paper Series 0639, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    18. Shouro Dasgupta & Enrica De Cian, 2016. "Institutions and the Environment: Existing Evidence and Future Directions," Working Papers 2016.41, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    19. Cai, Weixing & Hu, Feng & Xu, Fangming & Zheng, Liyi, 2022. "Anti-corruption campaign and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PA).
    20. Jesús Peiró-Palomino & Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo, 2018. "Assessing well-being in European regions. Does government quality matter?," Working Papers 2018/06, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).

    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:eee:jotrge:v:19:y:2011:i:2:p:355-365. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    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.