Economic growth is ultimately good for the environment! Cross-country evidence

Princeton economics professors Gene Grossman and Alan Krueger discover that economic growth is ultimately good for environment. Once the per capita income of your country reaches $8,000, enviromental quality will start to improve because now you can better afford those enviromental luxuries!

Their  study covers four types of indicators: urban air pollution, the state of the oxygen regime in river basins, fecal contamination of river basins, and contamination of river basins by heavy metals.

They find that economic growth brings an initial phase of deterioration followed by a subsequent phase of improvement.

The turning points for the different pollutants vary, but in most cases they come before a country reaches a per capita income of $8,000.

Reference:
Economic-growth and the environment (published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics)
China’s Pearl River smells, but mayor vows to swim (earlier in this Bulletin)
Saving the environment from the environmentalists (also in this Bulletin)