Abstract. The definition of the environmental Kuznets curve is a hypothesized relationship between certain indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. It has an inverse U shape which shows that pollution increases initially as a country develops its industry and thereafter declines after reaching a certain level of economic development. This paper tries to offer a critical description of the Environmental Kuznets Curve, to identify what kind of good is the environmental quality and to see if the data available from Romania verify the relationship between environmental quality and income per capita.

Keywords: Kuznets curve, environmental quality, pollution, income per capita.