The decoupling of affluence and waste discharge under spatial correlation: Do richer communities discharge more waste?*

Abstract A number of developing countries have come to face the growing problems of municipal solid waste management caused by rapid economic growth. Although there are many studies on the environmental Kuznets curve, very few address the issue of municipal solid waste, and there is still controversy concerning the validity of the waste version of the Kuznets curve hypothesis. It is demonstrated that the turning point for household municipal solid waste is approximately 3.7 million yen per person, which is far less than the maximum income in the sample and valid evidence for absolute decoupling. The success of our study partially stems from our highly disaggregated data and use of spatial econometrics. The former aspect indicates that distinguishing between household and business waste reveals the waste–income relationship, whereas the latter indicates the importance of peer effects when municipal governments formulate waste-reduction policies.

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