Empirical Evidence in Ecuador between Economic Growth and Environmental Deterioration

Abstract

Currently, obtaining evidence of the correlation between economic growth and environmental deterioration is of great relevance. Due to an increase in economic activity, an increase in CO2 emissions and its possible effects on the current climate change is very worrying. The studies that analyze this correlation serve as a basis for the awareness of countries and the establishment of policies worldwide to curb such deterioration. The objective of this research is achieved through a panel data model and spatial econometric techniques to address the relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation in Ecuador. A regression model is proposed where the deterioration dependent variable is CO2 emissions, which is also an independent variable for the provincial gross value added. Poverty and inequality are considered as control variables in order to observe their effects on CO2 emission. The results are coherent with what is stated by the theory and describe an inverted U-shaped curve. They also show that the generation of pollutant emissions is directly related to the growth of the vehicle fleet and inversely related with the population’s schooling levels. The spatial effects are significant and the spatial impact multipliers indicate that the strongest direct and indirect effect is the one caused by the generation of car emissions per capita. This variable is relevant for the design of public policy aimed at improving environmental quality.

Changes in Energy Supplies in the Countries of the Visegrad Group

“…Therefore, there is a need for closer international cooperation in this area. Many studies also confirmed the existence of relationships consistent with the environmental Kuznets curve-i.e., the dependence of environmental impact on the level of economic development of the country [60][61][62][63][64]. However, in developing countries, there are differences in the relationship between economic growth in energy use and renewable energy.…”

Unconventional energy resources: a system dynamics evaluation of social, environment and economic aspects

“…Some significant variables and cardinal sustainable development indicators identified as relevant to this study [ 13 , 18 , 22 , 23 , 30 , 31 ] include the following: economic-dynamics : employment, GDP; enviro-dynamics : land use, water use, GHG (CO2) emissions, heavy metal emission; socio-dynamics : displacement, infrastructure, public services, and farming /fishing.…”

“…The changes could include technological innovations. Researchers [ 23 ] observed from their study that economic growth often results in environmental deterioration in the short run. Successful mitigation of mismatch (“economic development and environmental sustainability”) requires identifying the prohibiting factors to sustainable development, using data analyses and other approaches [ 33 ].…”

Evaluation of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in a tourism development context: evidence for 15 Latin American countries

“…A large number of investigations in the last two decades have focused their analyses on observing what the determinants of environmental pollution are (Ahmad et al, 2017; Audi & Ali, 2018; Massa‐Sánchez et al, 2020; among others). Research shows that aggregate economic activity, in addition to population growth (Katircioglu et al, 2020), is the main driver of environmental deterioration.…”