Economic growth and environmental pollution in the USA and Russia: comparative spatial-econometric analysis

One of the vital problems of the 21st century is environmental pollution, unfavorable both locally and globally. Contaminants released into the soil, air, and water runoff pollute drinking water which leads to an increase in the number of epidemic outbreaks. Moreover, pollutants affect local ecosystems. And when the ecosystem dynamics change, the balance of organisms that provide us with clean air is disrupted. The main cause of the pollution problem is economic growth. It encourages intensive energy use which leads to an increase in СО2 emissions. It is important to understand how to reduce emissions while maintaining the pace of economic growth. To date, the emission-leading countries have fundamentally different economic structures, and therefore it seems necessary to conduct a comparative analysis of the economic growth impact on pollutant emissions for them. The paper considers the situation typical of the Russian regions and American states for the period from 2004 to 2018. We have used spatial econometric models to identify dependencies. The paper proves the existence of spatial correlation in the level of pollutant emissions in Russia’s regions and American states. We have confirmed the hypothesis that the dependence of emissions on economic growth in Russia’s regions has the form of an inverted U-shaped curve. The value of the GRP turning point, after reaching which the level of pollutant emissions will decrease, has shown that only in ten Russia’s regions, with GRP growth, emissions are reduced, and most regions are on the increasing part of the curve. For the United States, the estimates obtained are not significant, which proves the paramount importance of the structure of the country’s economy in the issue of the relationship between environmental pollution and economic growth.