The Oil Drum: Net Energy | Using Thermodynamics to (Re)Examine Environmental Kuznets Curves

49 comments on Using Thermodynamics to (Re)Examine Environmental Kuznets Curves

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David Murphy on May 11, 2009 - 5:21pm

The fact that sulfur is scrubbed from emissions does not automatically imply an equally harmful form of pollution somewhere else.

I acknowledge that very point in the post,

Wealth may allow societies to deal with pollution in a more efficient manner or transform pollution into a less harmful form, but the idea that all nations can become wealthy by consuming the world's resources yet be pollution-free is antithetical to the laws of thermodynamics.

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Jolly on May 11, 2009 - 5:54pm

The EKC doesn't imply that society will eventually be pollution free. It only implies that pollution levels will eventually decline. The usual argument is based on environmental quality as a normal good, so as incomes rise people want more of. Brian Copeland and Scott Taylor use production functions that imply an upper bound to pollution abatement in their models.

Edit In economic models, the EKC results from policy intervention (typically a pollution tax). Since full abatement is ruled out, there is always some level of pollution in these models. There is no law of human behaviour that I'm aware of that dictates the response will actually happen.

Copeland, Brian R. and M. Scott Taylor (2003). Trade and the Environment: Theory and Evidence Princeton University Press.

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