Global perspectives on environmental kuznets curve: A bibliometric review

Abstract

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) explains the dynamics associated with income and environmental quality. This study utilizes bibliometric analysis and data visualization techniques and empirically determines the tendencies and patterns in the EKC literature. Furthermore, the study explains intellectual structure, construct development, evolution, collaborations, and research clusters within the EKC research domain during the last two decades, from 2000 to 2020. The study empirically analyzes 2218 articles and 55,051 references from 328 journals, 4146 authors, 99 countries, and 50 subject categories. The study used co-citation analysis to examined the noticeable research articles, journals and authors’ contribution. Moreover, the co-occurrence analysis examined the prominent countries, institutions and keywords in the concerned literature. Most studies in EKC domain focus on developing regions facing the dual challenge of growth and environmental sustainability. The current initiative categorizes the EKC knowledge domain into major research areas with the help of different clusters namely causality analysis, non-renewable energy, energy consumption, the EKC, and industrial pollution. The study further discusses emerging trends that provide future research fronts and intellectual development within the EKC framework.