Nowhere has the divide between advocates and critics of globalization been more striking than in debates over free trade and the environment. And yet the literature on the subject is high on rhetoric and low on results. This book is the first to systematically investigate the subject using both economic theory and empirical analysis. Brian Copeland and Scott Taylor establish a powerful theoretical framework for examining the impact of international trade on local pollution levels, and use it to offer a uniquely integrated treatment of the links between economic growth, liberalized trade, and the environment. The results will surprise many. The authors set out the two leading theories linking international trade to environmental outcomes, develop the empirical implications, and examine their validity using data on measured sulfur dioxide concentrations from over 100 cities worldwide during the period from 1971 to 1986. The empirical results are provocative. For an average country in the sample, free trade is good for the environment. There is little evidence that developing countries will specialize in pollution-intensive products with further trade. In fact, the results suggest just the opposite: free trade will shift pollution-intensive goods production from poor countries with lax regulation to rich countries with tight regulation, thereby lowering world pollution. The results also suggest that pollution declines amid economic growth fueled by economy-wide technological progress but rises when growth is fueled by capital accumulation alone. Lucidly argued and authoritatively written, this book will provide students and researchers of international trade and environmental economics a more reliable way of thinking about this contentious issue, and the methodological tools with which to do so.

While trade exacerbates climate change, it is also a central part of the solution because it has the potential to enhance mitigation and adaptation. This timely report explores the different ways in which trade and climate change intersect. Trade contributes to the emissions that cause global warming and is itself also affected by climate change through changing comparative advantages. The report also confronts several myths concerning trade and climate change. The Trade and Climate Change Nexus: The Urgency and Opportunities for Developing Countries focuses on the impacts of, and adjustments to, climate change in developing countries and on how future trade opportunities will be affected by both the changing climate and the policy responses to address it. The report discusses how trade can provide the goods and services that drive mitigation and adaptation. It also addresses how climate change creates immense challenges for developing countries, but also new opportunities to promote trade diversification in the transition to a low-carbon world. Suitable trade and environmental policies can offer effective economic incentives to attain both sustainable growth and poverty reduction.

In the opinion of many, the most crucial issue confronting the world today lies in achieving a sustainable nexus among global trade, economic development, and the environment. This book, written by a prominent diplomat with extensive direct experience in this field, presents a much-needed critical perspective on the conflict of norms among the three policy regimes, focusing on the dilemma of reconciling approaches regarding harmonized global governance and a more diverse community-based approach. It is the first and only in-depth treatment to systematically study a series of deliberations in the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE), highlighting perspectives taken by both developed and developing economies. The book demonstrates that the CTE’s contributions to the evolving trade and environment policy framework have been, contrary to popular perception, both substantial and relevant. In his review of how the particular characteristics of twenty key work outputs of the CTE impact current practice in trade and environment policy discussions, the author discusses such key issues and topics as the following: a singular harmonized global governance framework versus the centrifugal force of community-based, localized or regional solutions that emphasize diversity and multifaceted institution building; drawbacks and continuing relevance of the CTE Work Agenda; issues related to carbon, intellectual property rights, and services; market access for environmental goods; requirements for environmental purposes relating to products, including standards and technical regulations, packaging, labeling, and recycling; and ways forward for combining global regimes with local solutions in an environmental context. Given the urgent need for making economic policies more coherent with sustainability and environmental goals, and for overcoming the ongoing stalemate between developed and developing countries on this matter, this book is sure to be warmly welcomed by policy makers and negotiators in the areas of both trade and environment, as well as by academics, theorists, and experts in the field of global governance interested in formulating practical approaches to trade and environment governance and minimizing potential policy conflicts.

'Free Trade and the Environment' examines the impact of international economic integration on the environment, taking as a case study the experience of Mexico, as it transformed itself from one of the most closed economies in the world to one of the mostopen.

Climate change remains a global challenge requiring international collaborative action. Another area where countries have successfully committed to a long-term multilateral resolution is the liberalization of international trade. Integration into the world economy has proven a powerful means for countries to promote economic growth, development, and poverty reduction. The broad objectives of the betterment of current and future human welfare are shared by both global trade and climate regimes. Yet both climate and trade agendas have evolved largely independently through the years, despite their mutually supporting objectives. Since global emission goals and global trade objectives are shared policy objectives of most countries, and nearly all of the World Bank's clients, it makes sense to consider the two sets of objectives together. This book is one of the first comprehensive attempts to look at the synergies between climate change and trade objectives from economic, legal, and institutional perspectives. It addresses an important policy question - how changes in trade policies and international cooperation on trade policies can help address global environmental spillovers, especially GHG emissions, and what the (potential) effects of (national) environmental policies that are aimed at global environmental problems might be for trade and investment. It explores opportunities for aligning development and energy policies in such a way that they could stimulate production, trade, and investment in cleaner technology options.

Drawing on the expertise of leading voices, this book takes stock of key challenges in addressing climate change mitigation, serving as a reference tool for understanding the interface between international trade and climate and shedding light on key issues including global commons, border tax adjustment, subsidies and biofuels.

Handbook on Trade and the Environment is a good source for those looking for a better understanding of political issues, of legal debates, and of the state of discussion between government, industry, NGO, and private sector groups on topics that are not often treated elsewhere. Judith M. Dean, World Trade Review I would recommend the book to anyone concerned with the interaction of trade and the environment. John Goodier, Reference Reviews In this comprehensive reference work, Kevin Gallagher has compiled a fresh and broad-ranging collection of expert voices commenting on the interdisciplinary field of trade and the environment. For over two decades policymakers and scholars have been struggling to understand the relationship between international trade in a globalizing world and its effects on the natural environment. The authors in this Handbook provide the tools to do just that. The editor s well-worked introduction synthesizes the emerging themes of the collection, which is divided into three sections: trade and environmental quality, trade and environmental politics, and trade and environmental policy. Topics include the extent to which trade liberalization creates pollution havens where dirty industries flock to poorer countries with lax environmental standards, and conversely, how multinational corporations bring cleaner environmental technologies to developing countries when they choose to move abroad. The volume also addresses the extent to which national environmental policy and/or global environmental agreements clash with the emerging rules of the World Trade Organization and whether such environmental policies hinder export competitiveness. Finally, numerous political economy analyses of the complex political coalitions that arise to adapt to and mitigate changes in trade and environmental policy are provided. In addition to broader overviews of the field, in-depth case studies of nations and regions are offered, including the United States, the European Union, China, India and Mexico as well East Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The volume will serve as a guide for scholars new to the field as well as students and policy-makers needing a quick reference to the research on the interface between trade and the environment.

An analytic exploration of whether trade hurts or helps the environment.

Issues related to environmental protection and trade liberalization have moved to the forefront of international policy agendas. The Economics of International Trade and the Environment explores - from an economic standpoint - many of the questions that are germane in increasing our knowledge of environmental policy in the presence of international