Environmental quality, economic growth, and democracy: A theoretical and empirical examination of the linkages.

摘要

It is widely asserted in the trade and development literature that economic growth leads to environmental quality improvements once a given income level is achieved. I believe that this relationship is sporadic and, where it does exist, the causal mechanism is far more complex than this relationship implies. I hypothesize that the level of democracy in a country is a critical intervening variable (among others) that powerfully influences the effect of economic growth on environmental quality. Further, that the level of democracy in a country is more closely related to environmental quality than is the level of income.; My dissertation consists of four chapters. In the first chapter I survey the existing statistical evidence for and theoretical underpinnings of a relationship between economic growth and environmental quality. I then scrutinize the results obtained by Grossman and Krueger (1991), a seminal paper in the debate over the relationship in question. I find that their results are neither strong nor robust, and should not be viewed as evidence of a relationship between environmental quality and income level.; In the second chapter, I present a theoretical examination of the relationship between regime type and environmental quality focusing on the differences between democratic and authoritarian regimes.; The third chapter surveys the literature on democracy and environmental quality and then presents a cross-country empirical examination of urban air pollution concentrations and two measures of democracy. I find that a statistically significant and robust positive relationship exists between democracy and urban air pollution concentrations.; In the final chapter, I present a longitudinal case study of the regulation of urban air pollution in Santiago, Chile during the military dictatorship and then in the (relative) democracy that followed. I find that little was done to regulate urban air pollution under the military dictatorship and a far greater, though limited, effort was made under the democratic regime. This can in part be attributed to the institutions of democracy that allow for public input in the policy making process.