IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/ajlecn/v11y2020i1p12n2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of International Trade on Environmental Quality: Implications for Law

Author

Listed:
  • Pham Ngoc-Tham
  • Pham Trung-Kien

    (Faculty of Economics, Binh Duong University, Binh Duong Province590000, Vietnam)

  • Cao Viet Hieu

    (Binh Duong University, Binh Duong Province 590000, Vietnam)

  • Tran Ha Giang

    (Institute of Business Research, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

  • Vo Xuan Vinh

    (Institute of Business Research and CFVG Ho Chi Minh City, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, 59C Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, Ward 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

Abstract

Our study illuminates the impact of international trade on environmental quality in lower-middle-income countries by using CO2 emission as the proxy for environmental degradation. Using the Pooled Mean Group estimation along with validity tests, the results show that in the long run, CO2 emission is affected by merchandise export, merchandise import, FDI, GDP per capita, and renewable energy consumption. The impact of trade on CO2 emission is mixed because our findings show that merchandise export and import have opposite effects. In addition, our results reveal that Environmental Kuznets Curve exists in the long run with N-sharped. The increase in GDP per capita leads to the raise of CO2 emission at first, but later comes the decrease and then increase. The paper has relevant implications for law makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Pham Ngoc-Tham & Pham Trung-Kien & Cao Viet Hieu & Tran Ha Giang & Vo Xuan Vinh, 2020. "The Impact of International Trade on Environmental Quality: Implications for Law," Asian Journal of Law and Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:ajlecn:v:11:y:2020:i:1:p:12:n:2
    DOI: 10.1515/ajle-2020-0001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/ajle-2020-0001
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/ajle-2020-0001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Bruyn, S. M. & van den Bergh, J. C. J. M. & Opschoor, J. B., 1998. "Economic growth and emissions: reconsidering the empirical basis of environmental Kuznets curves," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 161-175, May.
    2. Halicioglu, Ferda, 2009. "An econometric study of CO2 emissions, energy consumption, income and foreign trade in Turkey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 1156-1164, March.
    3. Chen, Yulong & Wang, Zheng & Zhong, Zhangqi, 2019. "CO2 emissions, economic growth, renewable and non-renewable energy production and foreign trade in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 208-216.
    4. Hasanov, Fakhri J. & Liddle, Brantley & Mikayilov, Jeyhun I., 2018. "The impact of international trade on CO2 emissions in oil exporting countries: Territory vs consumption emissions accounting," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 343-350.
    5. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    6. Vo, Xuan Vinh & Nguyen, Dong Phong & Ho, Viet Tien & Nguyen, Trung Thong, 2017. "Where do the advanced countries invest? An investigation of capital flows from advanced countries to emerging economies," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 142-154.
    7. Onafowora, Olugbenga A. & Owoye, Oluwole, 2014. "Bounds testing approach to analysis of the environment Kuznets curve hypothesis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 47-62.
    8. Haug, Alfred A. & Ucal, Meltem, 2019. "The role of trade and FDI for CO2 emissions in Turkey: Nonlinear relationships," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 297-307.
    9. Fodha, Mouez & Zaghdoud, Oussama, 2010. "Economic growth and pollutant emissions in Tunisia: An empirical analysis of the environmental Kuznets curve," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 1150-1156, February.
    10. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    11. Joakim Westerlund, 2007. "Testing for Error Correction in Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(6), pages 709-748, December.
    12. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    13. Dong Phong Nguyen & Xuan Vinh Vo, 2017. "Determinants of bilateral trade: evidence from ASEAN+3," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 31(2), pages 115-122, November.
    14. Damiaan Persyn & Joakim Westerlund, 2008. "Error-correction–based cointegration tests for panel data," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(2), pages 232-241, June.
    15. Wang, H. & Ang, B.W., 2018. "Assessing the role of international trade in global CO2 emissions: An index decomposition analysis approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 146-158.
    16. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    17. Al-Mulali, Usama & Saboori, Behnaz & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2015. "Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Vietnam," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 123-131.
    18. Galeotti, Marzio & Lanza, Alessandro & Pauli, Francesco, 2006. "Reassessing the environmental Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions: A robustness exercise," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 152-163, April.
    19. Esteve, Vicente & Tamarit, Cecilio, 2012. "Is there an environmental Kuznets curve for Spain? Fresh evidence from old data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2696-2703.
    20. Thi Mai Hoai Bui & Xuan Vinh Vo & Duy Tung Bui, 2018. "Gender inequality and FDI: empirical evidence from developing Asia–Pacific countries," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(3), pages 393-416, December.
    21. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Haouas, Ilham & Hoang, Thi Hong Van, 2019. "Economic growth and environmental degradation in Vietnam: Is the environmental Kuznets curve a complete picture?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 197-218.
    22. Tang, Chor Foon & Tan, Bee Wah, 2015. "The impact of energy consumption, income and foreign direct investment on carbon dioxide emissions in Vietnam," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 447-454.
    23. Jalil, Abdul & Mahmud, Syed F., 2009. "Environment Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions: A cointegration analysis for China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5167-5172, December.
    24. Saboori, Behnaz & Sapri, Maimunah & bin Baba, Maizan, 2014. "Economic growth, energy consumption and CO2 emissions in OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)'s transport sector: A fully modified bi-directional relationship approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 150-161.
    25. Romero-Avila, Diego, 2008. "Questioning the empirical basis of the environmental Kuznets curve for CO2: New evidence from a panel stationarity test robust to multiple breaks and cross-dependence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 559-574, January.
    26. Saboori, Behnaz & Sulaiman, Jamalludin, 2013. "Environmental degradation, economic growth and energy consumption: Evidence of the environmental Kuznets curve in Malaysia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 892-905.
    27. Xuan-Vinh Vo, 2010. "Net private capital flows and economic growth-the case of emerging Asian economies," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(24), pages 3135-3146.
    28. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    29. Wang, S.S. & Zhou, D.Q. & Zhou, P. & Wang, Q.W., 2011. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in China: A panel data analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 4870-4875, September.
    30. Shafik, Nemat & Bandyopadhyay, Sushenjit, 1992. "Economic growth and environmental quality : time series and cross-country evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 904, The World Bank.
    31. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    32. Mutascu, Mihai, 2018. "A time-frequency analysis of trade openness and CO2 emissions in France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 443-455.
    33. AkbostancI, Elif & Türüt-AsIk, Serap & Tunç, G. Ipek, 2009. "The relationship between income and environment in Turkey: Is there an environmental Kuznets curve?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 861-867, March.
    34. Xuan Vinh Vo & Kevin James Daly, 2005. "International Financial Integration: An Empirical Investigation into Asian Equity Markets Pre- and Post-1997 Asian Financial Crisis," Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis, in: Asia Pacific Financial Markets in Comparative Perspective: Issues and Implications for the 21st Century, pages 75-100, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    35. Martinez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada & Bengochea-Morancho, Aurelia, 2004. "Pooled mean group estimation of an environmental Kuznets curve for CO2," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 121-126, January.
    36. Khadiga Mohamed El-Aasar & Shaimaa A. Hanafy, 2018. "Investigating the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis in Egypt: The Role of Renewable Energy and Trade in Mitigating GHGs," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(3), pages 177-184.
    37. Seyed Komail Tayebi & Sanaz Younespour, 2012. "The Effect of Trade Openness on Environmental Quality: Evidence from Iran's Trade Relations with the Selected Countries of the Different Blocks," Iranian Economic Review (IER), Faculty of Economics,University of Tehran.Tehran,Iran, vol. 17(2), pages 19-40, spring.
    38. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    39. Kiviet, Jan F., 1995. "On bias, inconsistency, and efficiency of various estimators in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 53-78, July.
    40. Jiang, Xuemei & Guan, Dabo, 2017. "The global CO2 emissions growth after international crisis and the role of international trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 734-746.
    41. Kanjilal, Kakali & Ghosh, Sajal, 2013. "Environmental Kuznet’s curve for India: Evidence from tests for cointegration with unknown structuralbreaks," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 509-515.
    42. Halicioglu, Ferda & Ketenci, Natalya, 2015. "The impact of international trade on environmental quality in transition countries: evidence from time series data during 1991-2013," MPRA Paper 71097, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Taner Akan & Halil İbrahim Gündüz & Tara Vanlı & Ahmet Baran Zeren & Ali Haydar Işık & Tamerlan Mashadihasanli, 2023. "Why are some countries cleaner than others? New evidence from macroeconomic governance," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6167-6223, July.
    2. Sorroche-del-Rey, Yolanda & Piedra-Muñoz, Laura & Galdeano-Gómez, Emilio, 2023. "Interrelationship between international trade and environmental performance: Theoretical approaches and indicators for sustainable development," MPRA Paper 119918, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Haouas, Ilham & Hoang, Thi Hong Van, 2019. "Economic growth and environmental degradation in Vietnam: Is the environmental Kuznets curve a complete picture?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 197-218.
    2. Muhammad Shahbaz & Avik Sinha, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2emissions: a literature survey," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 106-168, January.
    3. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 emission: A survey of empirical literature," MPRA Paper 100257, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    4. Sinha, Avik & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Balsalobre, Daniel, 2017. "Exploring the Relationship between Energy Usage Segregation and Environmental Degradation in N-11 Countries," MPRA Paper 81212, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Sep 2017.
    5. Chen, Ping-Yu & Chen, Sheng-Tung & Hsu, Chia-Sheng & Chen, Chi-Chung, 2016. "Modeling the global relationships among economic growth, energy consumption and CO2 emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 420-431.
    6. Iftikhar Yasin & Nawaz Ahmad & Muhammad Aslam Chaudhary, 2021. "The impact of financial development, political institutions, and urbanization on environmental degradation: evidence from 59 less-developed economies," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 6698-6721, May.
    7. Sofien, Tiba & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy variables, environment and economic growth," MPRA Paper 82555, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Sep 2016.
    8. Muhammad Bilal Khan & Hummera Saleem & Malik Shahzad Shabbir & Xie Huobao, 2022. "The effects of globalization, energy consumption and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in South Asian countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 33(1), pages 107-134, February.
    9. Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2016. "Investigating the impact of national income on environmental pollution. International evidence," MPRA Paper 74149, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Al Mamun, Md. & Sohag, Kazi & Hannan Mia, Md. Abdul & Salah Uddin, Gazi & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2014. "Regional differences in the dynamic linkage between CO2 emissions, sectoral output and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-11.
    11. Priscilla Massa-Sánchez & Luis Quintana-Romero & Ronny Correa-Quezada & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama, 2020. "Empirical Evidence in Ecuador between Economic Growth and Environmental Deterioration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, January.
    12. Tiba, Sofien & Omri, Anis, 2017. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy, environment and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1129-1146.
    13. Wang, Kuan-Min, 2012. "Modelling the nonlinear relationship between CO2 emissions from oil and economic growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 1537-1547.
    14. Ali, Wajahat & Abdullah, Azrai & Azam, Muhammad, 2017. "Re-visiting the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for Malaysia: Fresh evidence from ARDL bounds testing approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 990-1000.
    15. Lau, Lin-Sea & Choong, Chee-Keong & Ng, Cheong-Fatt & Liew, Feng-Mei & Ching, Suet-Ling, 2019. "Is nuclear energy clean? Revisit of Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in OECD countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 12-20.
    16. Le, Thai-Ha & Chang, Youngho & Park, Donghyun, 2016. "Trade openness and environmental quality: International evidence," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 45-55.
    17. Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2018. "Investigating the non-linearity between national income and environmental pollution: international evidence of Kuznets curve," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 20(1), pages 179-210, January.
    18. Atwi, Majed & Barberán, Ramón & Mur, Jesús & Angulo, Ana, 2018. "CO2 Kuznets Curve Revisited: From Cross-Sections to Panel Data Models," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 40, pages 169-196.
    19. Mohamed Abdouli & Sami Hammami, 2017. "The Impact of FDI Inflows and Environmental Quality on Economic Growth: an Empirical Study for the MENA Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(1), pages 254-278, March.
    20. Kais, Saidi & Sami, Hammami, 2016. "An econometric study of the impact of economic growth and energy use on carbon emissions: Panel data evidence from fifty eight countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1101-1110.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    CO2 emission; Environmental Kuznets Curve; export; import;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F18 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Environment
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:ajlecn:v:11:y:2020:i:1:p:12:n:2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.