Understanding the relationship between income inequality and carbon dioxide emissions: the Canadian context

Date

2022-12-05

Authors

Conrad, Noah O.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the evolution of income inequality in Canada from 1997 to 2019 through the Gini coefficient and the share of income of the top 10% of income earners. These metrics are then used to evaluate whether there are any associations between income inequality and CO2 emissions. The results reveal that the Gini coefficient is negatively associated with CO2 emissions; however, no definitive conclusions can be drawn about the effect of income share. The implications of the results for the effect of economic policies (i.e., redistributive) on national climate commitments are then discussed.

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Keywords

income inequality, carbon dioxide emissions, marginal propensity to emit, consumption competition

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