Abstract:

The aim of this study is to examine the short- and long-term relationship between environmental pollution and economic growth in Turkey between the years 1960-2015 in the context of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and to determine whether there is a symmetrical or asymmetrical relationship between them. For this, carbon emission amount per capita (CO2) representing environmental pollution, GDP per capita representing economic growth, and energy consumption per capita variables, which are mainly used in the literature, were used for the control variable. According to the findings of the ARDL bounds test approach and the long- and short-term relationship, it has been determined that there is no "inverted-U" shaped relationship claimed by environmental Kuznets between economic growth and environmental pollution in Turkey in the long run. However, it was determined that there is a significant relationship between the amount of carbon emissions per capita (CO2) and per capita GDP variables. A 1 percent increase in GDP per capita reduces the amount of carbon emissions (CO2) by 0.000154 percent. In addition, the relationship between carbon emission amount (CO2) and energy consumption per capita is significant and positive. A 1 percent increase in the amount of energy per capita increases the amount of carbon emissions (CO2) by 0.003887 percent.

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