The Tradeoffs between GHGs Emissions, Income Inequality and Productivity

Rising emission of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) and growing economic inequalities have emerged as key challenges for policymakers over the past two decades and the problems are likely to intensify in the foreseeable future. Numerous studies in the past have examined the relationship between these and implications on growth and equity of nations. Contributing to this literature, the present paper examines cross country differences in historical GHGs emission from 1990 to 2014 and analyzes the relationship between income inequality and emission levels and productivity. Additionally, the role of energy use, equity and emission intensity. In doing so, data from the World Development Indicator is used for clusters of countries while also estimating sector specific trends in GHGs emissions for priority sectors such as agriculture and industry.