The Impact Of Income Inequality On Environmental Quality

In recent years,China has faced three major battles which are financial risks,poverty and environmental pollution.In the three major battles,solving the poverty problem is also regulating the gap between the rich and the poor.With regard to the impact of income inequality on environmental quality,the existing literature has three different conclusions: beneficial impact,harmful impact and irrelevant.However,there is no unified logical framework to explain the problem.Based on above facts,this paper first reviews the relevant literature at home and abroad,and puts forward the theoretical hypothesis of this paper: the impact of income inequality on environmental quality depends on the shape of the Environmental Kuznets Curve(KEC).When it is a convex function relationship between economic development level and environmental pollution,income inequality will aggravate environmental degradation;when economic development level and environmental pollution are concave function relationship,income inequality will improve environmental quality;When there is a linear relationship between development levels and environmental pollution,increasing income inequality will neither exacerbate environmental degradation nor improve environmental quality.Secondly,this paper uses existing data to describe the current situation of income inequality and environmental quality in China.Gini coefficient,the urban-rural gap and the regional disparity show a trend of rising first and then falling from 1990 to 2015.Contrary to the pattern of income inequality,per capita carbon emissions show a trend of decreasing first and then increasing.Thirdly,in theory,this paper uses the median theorem to prove that the impact of income inequality on environmental quality is determined by the form of EKC.Besides,this paper explains the impact of income inequality on environmental quality from the perspective of industrial structure and environmental needs of residents.In terms of empirical evidence,this paper uses data from 1990 to 2015 in China's provinces,using the Gini coefficient,the Thai coefficient and the coefficient of variation as indicators to measure the income gap,using per capita carbon dioxide as a proxy variable for environmental quality.This paper proves the impact of inequality on environmental quality depends on the shape of the EKC and uses instrumental variables to carry out robustness test.Through empirical analysis,this paper finds that there is an inverted U-type carbon emission EKC in China,and the widening of income inequality will curb carbon emissions and thus benefit the environment.For each additional unit of the Gini coefficient,per capita carbon emissions are reduced by 0.992%.Besides,the EKC in the eastern and western regions of China is concave,and income inequality is more conducive to curbing carbon emissions;the central region's EKC is linear,and income inequality has no impact on carbon emissions.Therefore,the hypothesis in this paper is proved from both theoretical and empirical aspects.Based on above conclusions,it can be seen that China's current narrowing of the income gap will bring environmental problems.In order to better coordinate the conflict between the two,government-led relocation policies needed to be considered in areas with extremely fragile ecological environment,.In addition,this paper aims to solve the problem of poverty from short-term,medium-term and long-term paths.In the short term,transfer payments should be increased,and income gaps should be narrowed through transfer payments.The medium-term path is to promote factor market reforms,especially in the human capital market;the long-term path is to promote equalization of education to prevent intergenerational transmission of income gap.