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Income Inequality and Carbon Emissions in the United States: A State-level Analysis, 1997–2012
- Source :
- Ecological Economics. 134:40-48
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2017.
-
Abstract
- This study investigates the relationship between U.S. state-level CO 2 emissions and two measures of income inequality: the income share of the top 10% and the Gini coefficient. Each of the inequality measures, which focus on unique characteristics of income distributions, is used to evaluate the arguments of different analytical approaches. Results of the longitudinal analysis for the 1997 to 2012 period indicate that state-level emissions are positively associated with the income share of the top 10%, while the effect of the Gini coefficient on emissions is non-significant. The statistically significant relationship between CO 2 emissions and the concentration of income among the top 10% is consistent with analytical approaches that focus on political economy dynamics and Veblen effects, which highlight the potential political and economic power and emulative influence of the wealthy. The null effect of the Gini coefficient is generally inconsistent with the marginal propensity to emit approach, which posits that when incomes become more equally distributed, the poor will increase their consumption of energy and other carbon-intensive products as they move into the middle class.
- Subjects :
- Consumption (economics)
Economics and Econometrics
Public economics
Inequality
Gini coefficient
business.industry
020209 energy
media_common.quotation_subject
Distribution (economics)
02 engineering and technology
Economic inequality
Income inequality metrics
Income distribution
0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
Econometrics
Economics
business
Marginal propensity to consume
General Environmental Science
media_common
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 09218009
- Volume :
- 134
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Ecological Economics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........421bf41f1dbf66a8b660258a1867578a