Open AccessECONOMIC GROWTH VERSUS ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: AN ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE IN CASE OF INDIA
Author(s) -
Sumedha Pandey
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
epra international journal of environmental, economics, commerce and educational management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2348-814X
DOI - 10.36713/epra8657
Subject(s) - kuznets curve , environmental degradation , economics , sustainability , per capita income , natural resource , resource depletion , development economics , population growth , environmental quality , per capita , goods and services , context (archaeology) , sustainable development , population , welfare , economic growth , economy , geography , political science , market economy , ecology , sociology , demography , archaeology , law , biology
Economic growth became the buzzword for planners and policymakers after the great devastation of World War II. Every country, rich and poor was planning to achieve higher growth rate to reach the take-off stage (Rostow). In 1950s and early 1960s, economic growth and economic development were considered synonymous but later on, economic development acquired a wider meaning i.e., growth was associated with increase in goods and services while economic development included such important factors like education, health which impact quality of life. But even then, greater emphasis was on economic growth because right from Adam Smith to modern economists, growth was the basic condition of economic welfare. To achieve an ever-increasing growth, resources (natural and man-made) are/were continuously being exploited. But the question that became important here was whether this growth or in wider sense development, sustainable? With time, the form of resource use has changed from usage to exploitation negatively impacting the environment. Can this growth process be allowed at the cost of environmental degradation? So, concerns have been raised from time to time to address this issue. In this context, this paper analyses the impact of rising per capita income, population density and construction activities on carbon emissions (a proxy of environmental degradation) to check the applicability of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in case of India. Results suggest a positive significant relation between the dependent variable and the independent variables, indicating towards the applicability of EKC in short-run in case of India, but not in the long-run. KEYWORDS: Economic growth, sustainable development, Environmental Kuznets Curve, environmental degradation, carbon emission