Economic growth and the environment in Singapore.

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between economic growth and environment degradation in Singapore to understand if the fruits of economic growth were enjoyed at the expense of the living environment in the nation.

A standard quadratic log-log model of income is used in the empirical research to investigate if the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis applies in Singapore. The EKC hypothesizes that environmental degradation will increase at the early stages of economic growth, but beyond a specific level of income per capita (which varies for different indicators) the trend reverses such that the environment improves at higher levels of income.

Results show that CO2 and SO2 emissions, along with total waste disposal are inverted U-shaped, while particulate matters (PM 10) and biodiversity loss yield a U-shaped relationship and a monotonically increasing relationship respectively with income. In addition, the turning points show varying time of improvement, with sulphur dioxide (SO2) improving the earliest, and PM10, the latest.

Policies in the Singapore Green Plan (SGP) 2006 edition are used to interpret the results. Similarly, the empirical findings help to map out policy implications of the SGP. It is observed that policies in the SGP both complement and contribute partially to the shape of EKC in Singapore.