A Consumption-Based Approach to Environmental Kuznets Curves Using the Ecological Footprint Indicator

Recent research suggests that consumption-based measures offer an insightful perspective on the debate on the relationship between economic growth and the environment. In this article, we deepen the consumption-based line of inquiry by investigating the empirical evidence in support of the environmental Kuznets hypothesis using 1961-2001 ecological footprint data. We test not only inverted-U and linear functions, but also power functions as potentially suitable models to represent the relationship between per capita income and environmental impact. Our results do not show evidence of delinking: the rate of growth of the ecological footprint slowly decreases when per capita income increases, but the growth itself never stops. The best model approximating this relationship is therefore not a quadratic but a power function, which does not support the case for indefinite economic growth as a prospective solution to environmental problems. JEL Classification: Q00, Q20, Q32, O13