Interactions between environmental quality and economic development in Shanghai, China

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between environmental quality and economic growth in Shanghai based on the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis (EKC), using the panel data over 1989-2004. Regarded as the largest city and ecoomic center in China, Shanghai has profoundly changed the local environment with the highest income level in this country. Ambient air quality, surface water quality and near-shore water quality from Shanghai are used as environmental indicators and per capita GDP is used as the economic indicator. We found four types of economy-environment relationships in the studied period in Shanghai. The results also show that surface water indicator supports EKC better than the ambient air and near-shore water indicator.

International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology, Vol. 2, No. 7, 2010, pp. 56-64