Environmental Kuznets Curve for Water Pollution: The Case of Border Countries

Alexi Thompson

Department of Economics, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/me.2014.51008                

Abstract

This paper looks for evidence of an environmental Kuznets curve for water pollution in countries that share major rivers as their border. The data in this paper consist of a panel of 21 years and 30 countries, seven of which are border countries. The turning point for the border countries is much lower than that for the other subset. A t-test comparing group means for income and biochemical oxygen demand levels for both subsets finds no statistical difference for either variable, implying that countries sharing a river may be able to enforce environmental regulations more effectively than countries not sharing a river.

Keywords

Environmental Kuznets Curve; Water Pollution; Border Countries

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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