Revisiting the link between socio-economic development and environmental status indicators—focus on panel data

Abstract

The link between economic, social, and environmental indicators is often complex and requires a detailed analysis for its understanding. The economy is dependent on the society and the environment, while the very existence of human race and society depends on and within the environment. Thus, these three entities are intricately interconnected, and it is therefore important to understand that any individual group of economic, social or environmental indicators must always be interpreted in connection with the other two groups, since only in this way, an integrated view of the functioning of an economy can be ensured. For the system to be sustainable, the different forces that act on this particular system of interaction must be in balance. Hence, a detailed analysis of selected economic, social, and environmental aspects of development and their linkages is a matter of utmost significance. The objective of this study is to identify an endogenously integrated relationship where economic factor such as gross domestic product per capita influences both qualitative and quantitative factors in social and environmental dimensions and vice versa and to focus on possible correlation between a set of ambient environmental aspects and a set of socio-economic dimensions that influence human well-being and sustainability. The results of the empirical analysis emphasise the fact that there exists bi-directional relationship between different developmental and environmental aspects in the developing countries. The study further argues that without consideration of depreciation/depletion charges for the environmental capital, this relation will not reflect the true interdependence.