IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v8y2018i7p108-d156470.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Conservation Effects of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Biased Policymakers

Author

Listed:
  • Qianqian Shao

    (School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Thorsten Janus

    (Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA)

  • Maarten J. Punt

    (Windesheim Honours College, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Zwolle 8017 CA, The Netherlands)

  • Justus Wesseler

    (Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy group, Wageningen University, Wageningen 6706 KN, The Netherlands)

Abstract

In this paper, we study the effects of international trade on forest conservation and welfare in a two-country model with industry-biased policymakers and Cournot-competing firms. We find that opening up to trade increases the harvest taxes that the industry-biased governments impose compared to the autarky taxes. The tax increase is large enough to decrease the production levels, which leads to higher conservation levels. In addition, the numerical simulation predicts that increasing the industry-bias monotonically increases (i) the positive tax effect, (ii) the positive conservation effect, and (iii) the welfare gains from trade. The intuition behind the results is that industry-biased governments already degrade the environment under autarky, so even a highly-distorted trade outcome can be welfare-improving. We conclude that, even if industry bias decreases conservation, it does not have to increase the environmental costs of trade.

Suggested Citation

  • Qianqian Shao & Thorsten Janus & Maarten J. Punt & Justus Wesseler, 2018. "The Conservation Effects of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Biased Policymakers," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-22, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:8:y:2018:i:7:p:108-:d:156470
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/8/7/108/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/8/7/108/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brander, James & Krugman, Paul, 1983. "A 'reciprocal dumping' model of international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3-4), pages 313-321, November.
    2. Barnett, A H, 1980. "The Pigouvian Tax Rule under Monopoly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 1037-1041, December.
    3. Kyle Bagwell & Robert W. Staiger, 2001. "Strategic Trade, Competitive Industries and Agricultural Trade Disputes," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 113-128, July.
    4. Grossman, Gene M & Helpman, Elhanan, 1994. "Protection for Sale," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 833-850, September.
    5. Jonathan Eaton & Gene M. Grossman, 1986. "Optimal Trade and Industrial Policy Under Oligopoly," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(2), pages 383-406.
    6. Reimer Jeffrey J & Stiegert Kyle, 2006. "Imperfect Competition and Strategic Trade Theory: Evidence for International Food and Agricultural Markets," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-27, September.
    7. Essi Eerola, 2004. "Forest Conservation – Too Much or Too Little? A Political Economy Model," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 27(4), pages 391-407, April.
    8. Satoshi Honma, 2005. "Pollution Tax under Lobbying Duopolists," Discussion Papers 22, Kyushu Sangyo University, Faculty of Economics.
    9. Burguet, Roberto & Sempere, Jaume, 2003. "Trade liberalization, environmental policy, and welfare," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 25-37, July.
    10. Fredriksson, Per G. & Svensson, Jakob, 2003. "Political instability, corruption and policy formation: the case of environmental policy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(7-8), pages 1383-1405, August.
    11. Nordström, Håkan & Vaughan, Scott, 1999. "Trade and the environment," WTO Special Studies, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division, volume 4, number 4.
    12. Carolyn Fischer, 2010. "Does Trade Help or Hinder the Conservation of Natural Resources?," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(1), pages 103-121, Winter.
    13. Erwin Bulte & Edward Barbier, 2005. "Trade and Renewable Resources in a Second Best World: An Overview," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 30(4), pages 423-463, April.
    14. Georges Tanguay, 2001. "Strategic Environmental Policies under International Duopolistic Competition," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(5), pages 793-811, November.
    15. Michael Pfluger, 2001. "Ecological Dumping under Monopolistic Competition," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 103(4), pages 689-706, December.
    16. Withagen, Cees, 2007. "International Trade and Environmental Policy Under Imperfect Competition," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 1(2), pages 151-183, April.
    17. Conconi, Paola, 2003. "Green lobbies and transboundary pollution in large open economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 399-422, March.
    18. Buchanan, James M, 1969. "External Diseconomies, Corrective Taxes, and Market Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(1), pages 174-177, March.
    19. Reimer, Jeffrey J. & Stiegert, Kyle W., 2006. "Evidence on Imperfect Competition and Strategic Trade Theory," Staff Papers 12609, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    20. Barrett, Scott, 1994. "Strategic environmental policy and intrenational trade," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 325-338, July.
    21. Schleich, Joachim, 1999. "Environmental quality with endogenous domestic and trade policies1," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 53-71, March.
    22. Barbier, Edward B. & Damania, Richard & Leonard, Daniel, 2005. "Corruption, trade and resource conversion," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 276-299, September.
    23. Fredriksson, Per G., 1997. "The Political Economy of Pollution Taxes in a Small Open Economy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 44-58, May.
    24. Brander, James A. & Spencer, Barbara J., 1985. "Export subsidies and international market share rivalry," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1-2), pages 83-100, February.
    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. Vincent Smith & Justus H. H. Wesseler & David Zilberman, 2021. "New Plant Breeding Technologies: An Assessment of the Political Economy of the Regulatory Environment and Implications for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, March.

    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. Rauscher, Michael, 2001. "International trade, foreign investment, and the environment," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 29, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    2. Voss, Achim & Schopf, Mark, 2021. "Lobbying over exhaustible-resource extraction," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    3. 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.
    4. Charles F. Mason & Victoria I. Umanskaya & Edward B. Barbier, 2018. "Trade, Transboundary Pollution, and Foreign Lobbying," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(1), pages 223-248, May.
    5. Fünfgelt, Joachim & Schulze, Günther G., 2016. "Endogenous environmental policy for small open economies with transboundary pollution," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 294-310.
    6. Joan Canton, 2009. "Environmentalists' Behaviour and Environmental Policies policies," Working Papers 2009.76, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    7. Paulus, Moritz & Trueby, Johannes & Growitsch, Christian, 2011. "Nations as Strategic Players in Global Commodity Markets: Evidence from World Coal Trade," EWI Working Papers 2011-4, Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI).
    8. Joachim Fünfgelt & Günther G. Schulze, 2011. "Endogenous Environmental Policy when Pollution is Transboundary," Working Paper Series in Economics 196, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    9. Anriquez, Gustavo, 2002. "Trade And The Environment: An Economic Literature Survey," Working Papers 28598, University of Maryland, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    10. Odd Rune Straume, 2006. "Product Market Integration and Environmental Policy Coordination in An International Duopoly," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 34(4), pages 535-563, August.
    11. Catola, Marco & D'Alessandro, Simone, 2020. "Market competition, lobbying influence and environmental externalities," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    12. Ian M. Sheldon, 2021. "Reflections on a Career as an Industrial Organization and International Economist," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(2), pages 468-499, June.
    13. Sturm, Daniel & Ulph, Alistair, 2002. "Environment, trade, political economy and imperfect information: a survey," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 0204, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    14. Juan Carlos Bárcena-Ruiz, 2006. "Environmental Taxes and First-Mover Advantages," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 35(1), pages 19-39, September.
    15. Onur A. Koska & Frank Stähler & Onur Yeni, 2020. "Trade and commodity taxes as environmental instruments in an open economy," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 48(2), pages 333-353, June.
    16. Stoschek, Barbara, 2007. "The political economy of environmental regulations and industry compensation," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 65, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    17. Keisuke Hattori, 2010. "Strategic Voting for Noncooperative Environmental Policies in Open Economies," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 46(4), pages 459-474, August.
    18. Roelfsema, Hein, 2007. "Strategic delegation of environmental policy making," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 270-275, March.
    19. Essi Eerola, 2004. "Forest Conservation – Too Much or Too Little? A Political Economy Model," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 27(4), pages 391-407, April.
    20. Davies, Ronald B., 2013. "The silver lining of red tape," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 68-76.

    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:gam:jagris:v:8:y:2018:i:7:p:108-:d:156470. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.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.