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.

The Environmental Kuznets Curve proposes an inverted U-shaped relationship between some measures of environmental degradation and per capita income. At low income levels, pollution tends to rise with industrialisation and lack of regulation. After a threshold income, societies may demand cleaner environments and invest in efficient technologies, leading to declining pollution levels. Thus, the hypothesis suggests that degradation first increases and then decreases with rising income, which is captured in Option B.

Option A:
Option A is incorrect because it assumes a simple continuous decline in degradation with rising income, ignoring the initial phase of industrial growth where pollution usually increases.

Option B:
Option B is correct since it reflects the characteristic inverted U shape, with a turning point at some intermediate income level. It aligns with the original formulation of the EKC hypothesis used in environment and development debates.

Option C:
Option C is incorrect as it states that income and degradation are completely unrelated. Empirical studies show that economic activity strongly influences environmental pressure, even if the exact EKC pattern may not hold for all pollutants.

Option D:
Option D is incorrect because it implies that degradation always increases with income and never improves. This contradicts the EKC idea and ignores evidence of environmental improvements in some high-income countries.