The relationship between environmental pollution, trade openness and economic growth in turkey

In this study, the validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis was tested for Turkey by investigating the effects of economic growth and trade openness on environmental pollution. These relationships were analyzed via time series analysis using the period of 1981-2012. The results obtained in the study seem to support that there is a relationship between economic growth, trade openness and environmental pollution in the long term in Turkey. However, it was found out that there was an inverted U-shape relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution consistent with the hypothesis environmental Kuznets Curve, while, there was no inverted U-shape relationship between economic growth and trade openness.