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Do Productivity Improvements Move Us Along the Environmental Kuznets Curve?

Author

Listed:
  • Janine De Fence

    (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde)

  • Nick Hanley

    (Department of Economics, University of Stirling)

  • Karen Turner

    (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde)

Abstract
The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis focuses on the argument that rising prosperity will eventually be accompanied by falling pollution levels as a result of one or more of three factors: (1) structural change in the economy; (2) demand for environmental quality increasing at a more-than-proportional rate; (3) technological progress. Here, we focus on the third of these. In particular, energy efficiency is commonly regarded as a key element of climate policy in terms of achieving reductions in economy-wide CO2 emissions over time. However, a growing literature suggests that improvements in energy efficiency will lead to rebound (or backfire) effects that partially (or wholly) offset energy savings from efficiency improvements. Where efficiency improvements are aimed at the production side of the economy, the net impact of increased efficiency in any input to production will depend on the combination and relative strength of substitution, output/competitiveness, composition and income effects that occur in response to changes in effective and actual factor prices, as well as on the structure of the economy in question, including which sectors are targeted with the efficiency improvement. In this paper we consider whether increasing labour productivity will have a more beneficial, or more predictable, impact on CO2/GDP ratios than improvements in energy efficiency. We do this by using CGE models of the Scottish regional and UK national economies to analyse the impacts of a simple 5% exogenous (and costless) increase in energy or labour augmenting technological progress.

Suggested Citation

  • Janine De Fence & Nick Hanley & Karen Turner, 2009. "Do Productivity Improvements Move Us Along the Environmental Kuznets Curve?," Working Papers 0908, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:str:wpaper:0908
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    Cited by:

    1. Nick Hanley & Karen Turner, 2009. "How do improvements in labour productivity in the Scottish economy affect the UK position on the Environmental Kuznets Curve?," Working Papers 0915, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    2. Aqib, Muhammad & Zaman, Khalid, 2023. "Greening the Workforce: The Power of Investing in Human Capital," MPRA Paper 116263, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Feb 2023.
    3. Colmenares, Gloria & Löschel, Andreas & Madlener, Reinhard, 2019. "The rebound effect and its representation in energy and climate models," CAWM Discussion Papers 106, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Scomputable general equilibrium models; technical progress; energy efficiency; labour productivity; environmental kuznets curve;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D57 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Input-Output Tables and Analysis
    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
    • R15 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Econometric and Input-Output Models; Other Methods
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy

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