Spatial Analysis of Environmental Pollution in Regions of the Russian Federation

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis proposes that there is an inverted U-shape relation between environmental degradation and income per capita. This has been taken to imply that economic growth will eventually redress the environmental impacts of the early stages of economic development. The literature on this issue has developed rapidly over the last few years. This paper analyzes the spatial model of the dependence of atmospheric pollutions per capita coming from stationary factors on the average income per capita. The research used panel data for 1995 -2014 years among all regions in Russia. The EKC, which is constructed in this paper, reflects only the ascending part of the curve, which shows that only a couple of federation subjects of Russia reach the turning point. The obtained results may indicate that, despite the existence of an EKC for the emission of the most common pollutants into the atmosphere, the economic development of Russian regions can not be fully determined sustainable in the long run period and contributing to reduce the pressure on the environment.