Western Economic Growth And Environmental Quality Relationship

Form reform and opening up, with the rapid development of our country's economy, all kinds of environmental problems are beginning to appear, and how to coordinate environment and economic relations become the focus of attention. China's western areas as an important regional ecological protection, in the development of the economy is also faced many environmental problems. Studying the relationship between the quality of our environmental and economic growth, and finding a sustainable development course to western areas is significance.This paper firstly summarizes the research on the relationship between economic growth and environment, articulates the basic theory of the relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution. And then, this paper introduces briefly the basic economic condition and environmental pollution status in current western region of China. In empirical part, this paper selects the per capita GDP index to represents economic growth of western region, and selects three indicators, including the total discharge of waste water, sulfur dioxide emissions, industrial solid waste, respectively represents the status of environment pollution, meanwhile, this paper makes the basic measurement model with the panel data from 1998 to 2009 in 12 provinces and municipalities of western areas, eventually, fits the Kuznets curve of western environment.When building fitting model, this paper firstly does unit root test and Cointegration test for the panel data variables to determine their stability and long-term trend. Then through covariance testing method, it constructs F statistic to determine panel data models and ultimately chooses coefficient fixed effect panel data model. In order to determine whether other factors have impacts on the Environmental Kuznets Curve, this paper builds an extended coefficient fixed effect panel data model by adding up population size, foreign investment, the level of environmental pollution control and industrial structure as four new variables.By contrast with the basic model and the expansion model, this paper has the following conclusions:First, the environmental pollution and the economic development of china's western areas are in poured N type curve relations. At present, sulfur dioxide emission of pollutants, waste water discharge and industrial solid waste discharge are being on the second stage of poured N type. Second, for the western areas, the increase of pollution control have more obvious inhibition of the industrial solid waste discharges than the other two types of pollutants discharge. Third, foreign direct investment has significant effect on waste water discharge and industrial solid waste discharge, but no significant effect on sulfur dioxide emission of pollutants. Foreign direct investment in western areas has a negative effect on waste water discharge, but has inhibition of industrial solid waste discharge. Fourth, in the western areas, the second volume ratio is higher; the industrial solid waste discharge pollutants will be more.