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Economic Growth and Environmental QualityUnless one believes that all people on earth should live their lives like Tibetan monks, economic growth, through the use and development of natural resources, will continue throughout the world. As countries develop economic wealth the quality of their environment increases. Here is an excerpt from an article from the Political Economic Research Center.". . . the twin goals of environmental protection and increased prosperity are not as contradictory as many environmentalists would have the public believe. A recent study by Princeton University economists Gene Grossman and Alan Krueger found that "economic growth brings an initial phase of deterioration followed by a subsequent phase of improvement." They found, for instance, that light particulates, a pervasive form of air pollution,
tend to increase until a country reaches per capita income levels of around $9,000. After that air pollution declines as countries become wealthier.According to Grossman and Krueger "contrary to the alarmist cries of some environmental groups, we find no evidence that economic growth does unavoidable harm to the natural habitat." This relationship between economic growth and environmental quality, which resembles an inverted-U, has been found for many other environmental indices such as
water quality and waste disposal . . ."Complete article is at: http://www.perc.org/ophk1.htm