MATERIAL ACCUMULATION AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE MATERIAL ACCUMULATION AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE

Abstract

According to the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), environmental pollution follows an inverted U-shape path depending on economic growth. There are many explanations as to why the value of some environmental indicators improves in parallel with the growth of per capita macroeconomic income. Such reasons could be, for example, changes in the structure of the economy, the use of advanced technologies, the stricter environmental legislation, the more environmentally responsible behavior of people or the export of polluting industries to developing countries. In this article we examine how the Kuznets curve applies to the environment of the countries under examination in the accumulation of materials. For measuring the accumulation of materials we use one input indicator of material flow accounts (MFA) wich is the non-metallic material category of DMI’s (direct matrial input). As a result of the analysis, based on the material saturation level four larger group of countries can be distinguished. Some countries are fully saturated – the EKC is strictly monotone increasing – others do not even reach saturation – the EKC is strictly monotone decreasing – in some countries the hypothesis is confirmed – the EKC is inverted U-shape – while elsewhere the EKC is N-shaped.