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Pollution and international trade in services

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  • Arik Levinson

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Abstract

Two central topics in recent rounds of international trade negotiations have been environmental concerns, and services trade. While each is undoubtedly important, they are unrelated. In this paper I show that the services-environment link is small, for two reasons. First, services account for only a small fraction of overall pollution. For none of five major air pollutants does the service sector account for even four percent of total emissions; for three of the five services account for less than one percent. Second, those service industries that do pollute are the least likely to be traded internationally. Those services for which the U.S. collects and publishes international trade data - presumably those services that are traded internationally - are less polluting than services for which trade data do not exist - presumably because the services are not traded. Even if we limit attention to the services that are traded across borders, the service industries most intensively traded are the ones that pollute the least. The bottom line is simple. International services trade bears little relation to the environment, because services in general contribute relatively little to overall pollution, and those industries that are traded internationally are among the least polluting. Classification-JEL Codes: F18, D57, Q55, Q56

(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10784-010-9115-9
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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Springer in its journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics.

Volume (Year): 10 (2010)
Issue (Month): 2 (June)
Pages: 93-105

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Handle: RePEc:spr:ieaple:v:10:y:2010:i:2:p:93-105

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Web page: http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10784

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Related research

Keywords: Services trade; Industrial flight; Pollution havens; Leakage;

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  1. Josh Ederington, Arik Levinson, and Jenny Minier, 2004. "Trade Liberalization and Pollution Havens," Working Papers gueconwpa~04-04-05, Georgetown University, Department of Economics.
  2. Arik Levinson, 2007. "Technology, International Trade, and Pollution from U.S. Manufacturing," NBER Working Papers 13616, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Gamper-Rabindran, Shanti, 2006. "NAFTA and the Environment: What Can the Data Tell Us?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(3), pages 605-33, April.
  4. Kahn, Matthew E., 2003. "The geography of US pollution intensive trade: evidence from 1958 to 1994," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 383-400, July.
  5. Cole, Matthew A., 2004. "US environmental load displacement: examining consumption, regulations and the role of NAFTA," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 439-450, April.
  6. Hettige, Hemamala & Martin, Paul & Singh, Manjula & Wheeler,David R., 1995. "The industrial pollution projection system," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1431, The World Bank.
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Cited by:
  1. Roberta De Santis, 2012. "Impact of Environmental Regulations on Trade in the Main EU Countries: Conflict or Synergy?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(7), pages 799-815, 07.
  2. Giulio Cainelli & Massimiliano Mazzanti, 2012. "Environmental Innovations in Services. Manufacturing-Services Integration and Policy Transmissions," Working Papers 201208, University of Ferrara, Department of Economics.

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