The trade-off between tourism and pollution for Japanese economic growth

Th is paper proposes a vector error correction model to investigate the relationship between polluting emissions and GDP levels in Japan, in the period 1970-2014, and tests the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis driven by tourist arrivals. Our results validate the existence of two diff erent causality channels among the selected variables. In particular, we fi nd that a trade-off might exist between increasing the number of tourists, which drives economic growth, and the pattern of a sustainable development, due to the increase of polluting emissions. Th e analysis allows us to propose appropriate policy strategies to promote a robust and sustainable long run economic growth.