An Examination on Environmental-Economic Relations in China with Nonlinear Specifications

This paper investigates the relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution in China over the period 1989-2007. Conventional linear methods including the linear model and the log-linear model, and nonlinear methods with the Weibull and Gamma specifications are compared. It is shown that the nonlinear methods perform better than conventional linear methods. The results also suggest that with the rise of per capita GDP, per capita waste water emission appears an inverse U-shaped relationship, while per capita solid wastes generated and per capita waste gas emission take on unclear relationships, depending on different methods.