Technological Progress and the Environmental Kuznets Curve in the Twenty Regions of Italy

The paper explores the relationship between per capita income and three air pollutants, CO, NMVOCs, and SOx, using a novel dataset based on the 20 regions of Italy. Given the central role of technological progress in long-term environmental problems, we empirically investigate the influence of innovation on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). The estimation results validate the existence of an EKC for the three air pollutants considered. Furthermore, the influence of innovation on the inverse-U-shaped curve identified by the theoretical literature is in general empirically confirmed. Finally, the same conclusions also hold when using another dataset related to the aggregate national economy rather than separate regions.