Evaluating the Relationship between Air Pollution and Economic Growth Based on Kuznets' Environmental Curve Hypothesis (Case Study: Asian Countries)

One of the important, substantial and significant issues in recent decades has been the issue of economic growth and the preservation of environmental quality in human societies. Although humanity has long been aware of the importance of the environment in its life, the last decades of the twentieth century should be regarded as the culmination for the environmental issues. In this study, the relationship between air pollution and economic growth for 12 Asian countries during the period 1990 to 2015, with an emphasis on the Kuznets environmental curve has been investigated using panel data. The Research results indicate that per capita GDP, annual growth of urban population and energy consumption of fossil fuels have a positive and significant effect on per capita carbon dioxide emissions, and also the squared per capita GDP has a negative and significant effect on per capita carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, according to the results of the research, Kuznets' environmental hypothesis is true in these countries.