The Environmental Kuznets Curve in Asia: the case of sulphur and carbon emissions

The present study examines whether the Race to the Bottom and Revised EKC scenarios presented by Dasgupta and others (2002) are, with regard to the analytical framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), applicable in Asia to representative environmental indices, such as sulphur emissions and carbon emissions. To carry out this study, a generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation was made, using panel data of 19 economies for the period 1950-2009. The main findings of the analysis on the validity of EKC indicate that sulphur emissions follow the expected inverted U-shape pattern, while carbon emissions tend to increase in line with per capita income in the observed range. As for the Race to the Bottom and Revised EKC scenarios, the latter was verified in sulphur emissions, as their EKC trajectories represent a linkage of the later development of the economy with the lower level of emissions while the former one was not present in neither sulphur nor carbon emissions.