Pollution & Economic Growth

Economic Growth and Air Pollution: Three Empirical Essays Based on
Nonparametric Methods

Thèse présentée à la Faculté des sciences économiques
Université de Neuchâtel

Pour l’obtention du grade de docteur ès science économiques

Par
Carlos Ordás Criado

Acceptée sur proposition du jury de thèse:
Prof. Jean-Marie Grether, Université de Neuchâtel, directeur de thèse.
Prof. Jaime de Melo, Université de Genève, co-directeur de thèse
Prof. Thanasis Stengos, University of Guelph
Prof. Philippe Thalmann, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Prof. Milad Zarin-Nejadan, Université de Neuchâtel, président du jury

Soutenue le 9 mars 2009

Neuchâtel, 2009

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Les propos et opinions exprimés dans ce document n’engagent que son auteur et en aucune manière la Faculté des Sciences Économiques de l’Université de Neuchâtel.

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English abstract
Abstract: this dissertation includes 3 research papers, which explore empirically the link between the level of economic activity and air pollution at the macroeconomic level. A special emphasis is given to the application of recent tools developed in the nonparametric field as they allow for a better control of potential misspecification biases and they give more flexibility to the underlying relationships. Chapter 1 tests whether a sustainable link between per capita GDP levels and the environment exists for a variety of air pollutants’ emissions in a panel of 48 Spanish provinces over the period 1990-2002. Chapter 2 investigates how cross-country gaps in per capita CO2 emissions evolved over the 1960-2002 period for a panel of 166 world areas as well as for several country sub-groupings (rich/poor countries, specific geographic regions, economically integrated areas). An analysis of the dynamic of the cross-sectional distributions is conducted with robust scale and shape measures and formal shape and multimodality tests are applied. The latter approach is contrasted with a stochastic

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