Ecological Consequences of Economic Development: A Longitudinal Study on 26 OECD Countries between 1980 and 2009

• In Event: 505 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Global Environmental Governance and Local Outcomes

Abstract

“Modernization theory” suggests that decoupling of the impact that humans have on the
environment is likely to happen as the economy and population continue to grow, especially in
highly-developed countries. An alternative perspective based on “unequal ecological exchange theory” suggests that the decoupling may be more appearance than fact, because of the import of raw materials from other countries offsetting within country resource extraction. I examine these theoretical claims by using fixed-effects regression to analyze panel data for 26 OECD countries. Results show that the ecological consequences of their economic development continue to increase, but at a decreasing rate, as predicted by modernization theory. However, further
analysis shows that these decreases are associated with materials imported from outside the country. The mixed findings suggest that the green economies of the OECD countries might be the result of the growing production efficiency and technology advancement. Nevertheless, the possibility that the ecological burden generated by the OECD countries has been outsourced through material trade also exists.

Author

• Feng Hao, University of Richmond