Environmental Kuznets Curves: Limitations and Opportunities

This last chapter is not intended to repeat what has already been said in the “Concluding Remarks” sections of chapters 2 – 6. It will, however, take up once more some of the main issues of the study, relate them to a common context, and try to join them to a single whole. Moreover, the most serious limitations of, or obstacles to, Environmental Kuznets Curves will be summarised in order to avoid the impression that the inverted U-shaped pattern could be expected for all kinds of environmental problems, and to indicate potentially fruitful directions of future research in this field. Finally, it will be attempted to give the development phase and the environment phase an interpretation that goes beyond their purely technical aspects.