Andrew K. Jorgenson

Examines how the effect of economic development on carbon intensity of human well-being has changed since 1970 for 106 countries in multiple regional samples throughout the world. Although future economic growth will probably improve human well-being generally, this research suggests that it will also cost an increasing amount of carbon emissions.

Compares ecological modernization theory, which posits that environmental degradation will decrease over time as economic development increases, with treadmill of production theory, which argues that both will increase apace. Statistical analyses of national-level carbon emissions provide mixed and unbalanced support for both theories.

Assesses the extent to which infant and child mortality rates in less developed countries are impacted by the percentage of domestic populations living in urban slum conditions; finds that growth in the percentage of populations living in these conditions positively affects both forms of mortality rates, with the relationship being strongest and increasingly so for nations in Africa relative to nations in Asia and Latin America.

Engages the sociological theory of ecologically unequal exchange to assess the extent to which levels of per capita anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are a function of the "vertical flow" of exports to high-income nations. Finds that levels of such emissions are positively associated with the vertical flow of exports, and the relationship is much more pronounced (and increasingly so through time) for lower-income countries than for high-income countries.

Shows that population size, economic development, the production of cereals, cattle, natural gas and oil, and a reliance on food exports all contribute to methane emissions – a known contributor to climate change – from 1990 to 2005.

Examines the structural predictors of the per capita ecological footprints of nations, ultimately suggesting that a political economy framework that considers domestic attributes and structural relationships in particular contexts is quite useful for understanding nations’ consumption-based environmental harms.

Finds that pesticide and fertilizer use intensity in less-developed countries are both positively associated with foreign investment dependence in the agricultural sector, which contributes to a variety of human health and environmental problems.