Abstract

(Introduction):  The theoretical relationship between economic growth (measured through some income indicator) and the generation of pollutants explains that at a certain level of growth, a decrease in them begins, a process known as decoupling and that possibly indicates the presence of an Environmental Curve of Kuznets (CAK).

(Objective):   A possible decoupling of municipal solid waste in Mexico was studied for the years 2010 and 2015 in 2 183 municipalities.

(Methodology):   For this purpose, the independent variable used was the annual municipal income per capita in dollars expressed as purchasing power parities. In addition, the model was controlled by municipal population density and average municipal schooling.

(Results):  The results of models estimated by random effects, fixed effects, and cluster robust standard errors in fixed effects show the probable existence of decoupling between income and municipal solid waste in the 2 183 municipalities studied.

(Conclusions):  Although there is a possible CAK, new research is needed to contrast this hypothesis considering a long-time horizon at the national, regional, and sectorial levels in Mexico and Latin America too, as well as considering the effect of variables related to the collection of urban solid waste and recycling.

Keywords: Fixed effects, Kuznets curve; panel data; pollution