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Trade, environmental regulations and the World Trade Organization : new empirical evidence

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Author Info
Busse, Matthias

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Abstract

The paper empirically explores the linkages between environmental regulations and international trade flows. So far, empirical studies either have failed to find any close statistical relationship or have delivered questionable results due to data limitations. Using a comprehensive new database for environmental regulations across countries, a thorough empirical investigation of that linkage for 119 countries and five high-polluting industries is performed. No evidence is found to support the pollution hypothesis that industries facing above-average abatement costs with environmental regulations would prefer pollution havens and relocate their activities. The exception is iron and steel products, where a negative and statistically significant link is established, implying that higher compliance with international treaties and conventions and more stringent regulations are associated with reduced net exports. High-income countries, where environmental regulations are usually more stringent in comparison to middle or low income countries, have experienced a considerable decline in the export-import ratio of iron and steel products since the late 1970s. There is no clear evidence that national governments choose sub-optimal policies that result in insufficient regulations, so the case for environmental standards within the WTO framework is relatively weak.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 3361.

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Date of creation: 01 Jul 2004
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3361

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Related research
Keywords: Water and Industry; Environmental Economics&Policies; Public Health Promotion; Economic Theory&Research; Administrative&Regulatory Law; Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Theory&Research; Water and Industry; Administrative&Regulatory Law; Trade and Services;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2004. "Trade, Growth, and the Environment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(1), pages 7-71, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Maskus, Keith E., 2002. "Regulatory standards in the WTO: Comparing intellectual property rights with competition policy, environmental protection, and core labor standards," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(02), pages 135-152, July. [Downloadable!]
  3. Arik Levinson, 1999. "State Taxes and Interstate Hazardous Waste Shipments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 666-677, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Copeland, Brian R & Taylor, M Scott, 1994. "North-South Trade and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(3), pages 755-87, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Wolfgang Keller & Arik Levinson, 2002. "Pollution Abatement Costs and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows to U.S. States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(4), pages 691-703, 07. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Werner Antweiler & Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2001. "Is Free Trade Good for the Environment?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 877-908, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Randy Becker & Vernon Henderson, 2000. "Effects of Air Quality Regulations on Polluting Industries," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(2), pages 379-421, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Arik Levinson, . "Environmental Regulatory Competition: A Status Report and Some New Evident," Working Papers gueconwpa~02-02-07, Georgetown University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. Eli Berman & Linda T. M. Bui, 2001. "Environmental Regulation And Productivity: Evidence From Oil Refineries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 498-510, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-38, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. de Melo, Jaime & Grether, Jean-Marie, 2003. "Globalization and Dirty Industries: Do Pollution Havens Matter?," CEPR Discussion Papers 3932, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Wilson, John S. & Tsunehiro Otsuki & Sewadeh, Mirvat, 2002. "Dirty exports and environmental regulation : do standards matter to trade?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2806, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  13. Xinpeng Xu, 2000. "International Trade and Environmental Regulation: Time Series Evidence and Cross Section Test," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 17(3), pages 233-257, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Magnus Lodefalk & John Whalley, 2002. "Reviewing Proposals for a World Environmental Organisation," The World Economy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 25(5), pages 601-617, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Per G. Fredriksson & Muthukumara Mani, 2002. "The Rule of Law and the Pattern of Environment Protection," IMF Working Papers 02/49, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  16. Tobey, James A, 1990. "The Effects of Domestic Environmental Policies on Patterns of World Trade: An Empirical Test," Kyklos, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(2), pages 191-209.
  17. Adam B. Jaffe et al., 1995. "Environmental Regulation and the Competitiveness of U.S. Manufacturing: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 132-163, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Levinson, Arik, 1996. "Environmental regulations and manufacturers' location choices: Evidence from the Census of Manufactures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1-2), pages 5-29, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Josh Ederington & Jenny Minier, 2000. "Is Environmental Policy a Secondary Trade Barrier? An Empirical Analysis," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1507, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
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  20. List, John A. & Co, Catherine Y., 2000. "The Effects of Environmental Regulations on Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 1-20, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Medalla, Erlinda & Lazaro, Dorothea C., 2005. "Does Trade Lead to a Race to the Bottom in Environmental Standards? Another Look at the Issues," Discussion Papers DP 2005-23, Philippine Institute for Development Studies. [Downloadable!]
  2. Toru Iwami, 2006. "Globalization and Pollution Industries in East Asia," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-394, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  3. Babool, Md. Ashfaqul I. & Reed, Michael, 2005. "International Competitiveness and Environmental Regulations," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19496, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association). [Downloadable!]
  4. Kirkpatrick, Colin & Shimamoto, Kenichi, 2005. "The Effect of Environmental Regulation on the Locational Choice of Japanese Foreign Direct Investment," Impact Assessment Research Centre (IARC) Working Papers 30584, University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM). [Downloadable!]
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