It is imperative that China’s leaders address financial-system vulnerabilities, especially the corporate sector’s high leverage ratio. But it is even more important that they take action to counter a persistent slowdown in economic growth.Posted on account of the author, one of the few genuine experts on the Chinese economy writing in English. Numbers.
Project Syndicate
China Must Restore Growth
Yu Yongding, a former president of the China Society of World Economics and director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the People’s Bank of China from 2004 to 2006
Growth on a finite planet... what could go wrong?
ReplyDeleteEnvironmental Kuznets curve
ReplyDeleteThe environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is a hypothesized relationship between environmental quality and economic development: various indicators of environmental degradation tend to get worse as modern economic growth occurs until average income reaches a certain point over the course of development. The EKC suggests, in sum, that "the solution to pollution is economic growth."
Although subject to continuing debate, there is considerable evidence to support the application of environmental Kuznets curve for various environmental health indicators, such as water, air pollution and ecological footprint which show the inverted U-shaped curve as per capita income and/or GDP rise. It has been argued that this trend occurs in the level of many of the environmental pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, lead, DDT, chlorofluorocarbons, sewage, and other chemicals previously released directly into the air or water. For example, between 1970 and 2006, the United States' inflation-adjusted GDP grew by 195%, the number of cars and trucks in the country more than doubled, and the total number of miles driven increased by 178%. However, during that same period certain regulatory changes and technological innovations led to decreases in annual emissions of carbon monoxide from 197 million tons to 89 million, nitrogen oxides emissions from 27 million tons to 19 million, sulfur dioxide emissions from 31 million tons to 15 million, particulate emissions by 80%, and lead emissions by more than 98%.
source: Environmental Kuznets curve
Check out the source above for the graph.