THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND AGRICULTURAL LAND-USE INTENSITY

• Main Authors: Wei Z., Ruimei W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences 2020-11-01
• Series: Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences
• Subjects: environmental kuznets curve; inverted-u-shaped relationship; land-use; economic growth

This study aims to investigate the relationship between economic growth and agricultural land-use intensity for 86 countries over the period 1990-2017. Specifically, this study analyzes the relationship between economic growth and fertilizer use intensity, pesticide use intensity, cropping frequency, production value of crops per area, GHG emissions per area. The results suggest the existence of an inverted-U-shaped relationship between economic growth and each of the agricultural land-use intensity indicators, which is consistent with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. This implies that in the early stages of economic growth, agricultural land-use intensity rises steadily as per capita income grows, and then begins to decline as per capita income continues to grow after reaching the turning point. A mediation analysis is conducted to test the potential causes behind the relationship.