Economic growth and environment interactions

Abstract

Economic growth has negative impacts on environment at the first phases of development. After passing a threshold, it affects the environmental quality positively Economic development strategies indicate differences in various regions of the world because countries have different economic backgrounds and economic structure. Scale, production composition and technological effects have given forms the environmental impacts of economic growth. The negative environmental effects of the economic growth start with increasing of population, and then turn to positive by transition to knowledge-producing industries through high technology. Developed countries have some advantages because they have finance for infrastructure investments. Yet, it is very difficult to implement environmental policies due to weak economic structure. The most important way to prevent global environmental pollution is to act together. If developed countries use technology transfer for the benefits of themselves and developing countries by giving up excessive consumer roles, economic growth creates much more positive impacts on environmental quality and natural resources than expected.