Focussing on the prime example of CO2 emissions, we discuss several important theoretical and econometric problems that arise when studying environmental Kuznets curves (EKCs). The dominant theoretical approach is given by integrated assessment modelling, which consists of economic models that...

Recent years have seen a growing literature on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) that resorts in a large part to cointegration techniques. The EKC literature has failed to acknowledge that such regressions involve unit root nonstationary regressors and their integer powers (e.g. GDP and GDP...