UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesises an inverted U-shaped relationship between certain pollutants and per capita income. At low income levels,environmental degradation rises with growth but beyond a turning point it begins to fall. The stem describes exactly this pattern,worsening then improving with income,which defines the Kuznets curve. Therefore Option A is correct.

Option A:
Kuznets originally proposed a similar inverted U for income inequality,which inspired the application to environmental issues. The environmental version retains his name,matching the term requested in the question.

Option B:
The Laffer curve relates tax rates to tax revenue and does not directly address environment-income relationships. So Option B is not relevant here.

Option C:
The Gini coefficient is an inequality measure,not a curve describing environment versus income. It plays a different role in development analysis,so Option C is incorrect.

Option D:
The Engel curve describes how household expenditure on a good varies with income. It is unrelated to the environmental degradation pattern mentioned in the stem,so Option D does not fit.