Abstract
The main objective for many developing countries in the coming years is to improve the economic growth, which is perceived as necessary to meet the increasing demand of their populations, to improve their well-being, and to help manage existing environmental challenges. This work attempts to investigate the links between economic growth and environment in four countries from the MENA region (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt, hereafter ‘MATE’). To do so, two steps are followed: in the first one, a basic Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) equation for each country over the period 1970–2010 is tested to measure the effect of economic growth on environmental quality, and to determine the possibility of the existence of an EKC; in the second one, a few variables are introduced in the basic EKC equation (model tested in the first step) such as economic openness indicator and enrollment and urbanization rates. The purpose is to measure the possible influence of these variables (including economic growth) on environmental quality, and also to determine the possibility of the existence of an EKC. The results of both models show that the linkages between economic growth and environment are still uncertain, complex and ambiguous. It is not possible to find a unique form of this linkage and each variable introduced in the model can give some explanation where the application of EKC is unclear and uncertain. Therefore, these countries through policymaking, and the involvement of private actors (such as corporations and NGOs), must apply preventive and precautionary measures to reduce environmental damage. These measures must be adapted to specific economic and environmental conditions benefiting from the experiences and good practices developed in other regions and avoiding others’ past mistakes related to pollution, regional development, and natural resource management.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
This study uses the concept of the environment because it is general and includes different aspects of life and resources in the Earth.
- 3.
For more explication see Chertow (2001). The author tried to track the various forms the IPAT equation to examine which variables was worst for the planet.
- 4.
Simon Kuznets (1901–1985) was an American economist, demographer and statistician of Ukrainian origin. He won the Nobel Prize in 1971.
- 5.
For a chronological presentation of the EKC, see Stern (2004). This author confirmed that the EKC concept was popularized through World Bank Development Report (1992).
- 6.
The NAFTA came into effect on January 1, 1994, creating the largest free trade region in the world. It is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. For more detail see www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux (Global Affairs Canada).
- 7.
For more details, see Grossman and Krueger 1991, pp.3–4.
- 8.
They estimated for 10 environmental indicators which are “the lack of clean water, lack of urban sanitation, ambient levels of SPM, ambient SO2, change in forest area between 1961–1986, the annual rate of deforestation, dissolved oxygen in rivers, fecal coliforms in rivers, municipal waste per capita, and carbone missions per capita”, (Shafik and Bandyopadhyay 1992, p.5).
- 9.
- 10.
For more details, see Shafik (1994).
- 11.
- 12.
They focused on four types of indicators: concentrations of urban air pollution; measures of the state of the oxygen regime in river basins; concentrations of fecal contaminants in river basins; and concentrations of heavy metals in river basins.
- 13.
- 14.
For example, Panayotou (1993:2) proposed that “the state of natural resources and the environment in a country depends on five main factors” ignoring/neglecting other factors that impact economic growth. These factors are: “a) the level of economic activity or size of the economy; b) the sectoral structure of the economy; c) the vintage of technology; d) the demand for environmental amenities; and e) the conservation and environmental expenditures and their effectiveness”.
- 15.
The data of CO2 emission per capita is not available over the period 2011–2015.
- 16.
There are several factors that affect economic growth or environmental damage, but we cannot use all these variables, so we make some selection according to the availability of data regarding MATE and it importance.
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EL Alaoui, A., Nekrache, H. (2019). Economic Growth and Environment: An Empirical Analysis Applied to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. In: Behnassi, M., Gupta, H., Pollmann, O. (eds) Human and Environmental Security in the Era of Global Risks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92828-9_18
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