Environmental Engel Curves: Indirect Emissions of Common Air Pollutants

• 成果类型: Review
• 署名作者: Levinson, Arik; O'Brien, James
• 署名单位: Georgetown University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Gettysburg College
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_00736
• 发表日期: 2019-03
• 页码: 121-133
• 关键词: us; variables; pollution; demand; TRADE; tax

摘要

Environmental Engel curves (EECs) describe households' incomes and the pollution necessary to produce the goods and services they consume. We calculate 29 annual EECs from 1984 to 2012 for point-source air pollutants in the United States, revealing three clear results: EECs slope upward, have income elasticities less than 1, and shift down over time. Even without changes to production techniques, pollution would have declined despite growing incomes. This improvement can be attributed about equally to two trends: household income growth represented by movement along inelastic EECs and economy-wide changes represented by downward shifts in EECs over time.