Is economic growth good for the environment? A number of economists have
claimed that economic growth can benefit the environment, recruiting
political support and finance for environmental policy measures. This
view has received increasing support since the early 1990s from
empirical evidence that has challenged the traditional
environmentalist's belief that economic growth degrades the environment.
This book reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on growth and
the environment, giving an in-depth empirical treatment of the
relationship between the two. Various hypotheses are formulated and
tested for a number of indicators of environmental pressure. The test
results indicate that alternative models and estimation methods should
be used, altering previous conclusions about the effect of economic
growth on the environment and offering an insight into the forces
driving emission reduction in developed countries.