RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Divergence in State-Level Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 353
OP 369
DO 10.3368/le.83.3.353
VO 83
IS 3
A1 Aldy, Joseph E.
YR 2007
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/83/3/353.abstract
AB This paper addresses the question of whether income convergence is sufficient for per capita carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions convergence by focusing on a set of advanced economies, the U.S. states. I undertake a variety of cross-sectional and stochastic convergence tests with two novel measures of 1960 to 1999 state-level CO2 emissions per capita: production (pre-electricity trade) CO2 and consumption (post-electricity trade) CO2, and with income per capita. Although incomes continue to converge, I find stark divergence in production CO2 per capita and no evidence of convergence for consumption CO2 per capita. Forecasts of future distributions show little convergence in emissions. (JEL Q54, Q56)