Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis

Environmental Kuznets Curve was put forth by Nobel laureate Simon Kuznets. According to this hypothesis, when a country grows, it initially suffers economic degradation. However, over time, the environmental damage declines. This means that rich countries involved in damaging environment in the past actually contribute to the environmental growth. Recently, IIT Madras researchers disproved this hypothesis through empirical findings on relationship between economy and environment of 15 developing countries.