Dirty Exports and EnvironmentalRegulation: Do Standards Matter to Trade?

Wilson, John S. ; Tsunehiro Otsuki ; Sewadeh, Mirvat

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

关键词: ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS & PROTOCOLS;    WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION;    TRADE NEGOTIATIONS;    TRADE AGREEMENTS;    POLLUTION INTENSITY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2806
RP-ID  :  WPS2806

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

How to address the link betweenenvironmental regulation and trade was an important part ofdiscussions at the World Trade Organization Ministerial inDoha, Qatar in November 2001. Trade ministers agreed tolaunch negotiations on trade and the environment,specifically clarification of WTO rules. The authors addressan important part of the background context for decidingwhether or how to link trade agreements to the environmentfrom a developing country perspective. The authors askwhether environmental regulations affect exports ofpollution-intensive or "dirty" goods in 24countries between 1994 and 1998. Based on aHeckscher-Ohlin-Vanek (HOV) model, net exports in fivepollution-intensive industries are regressed on factorendowments and measures of environmental standards(legislation in force). The results suggest that, if countryheterogeneity such as enforcement of environmentalregulations is controlled for, more stringent environmentalstandards imply lower net exports of metal mining,nonferrous metals, iron, and steel and chemicals. Theauthors find find that a trade agreement on a commonenvironmental standard will cost a non-OECD countrysubstantially more than an OECD country. Developingcountries will, on average, reduce exports of the fivepollution-intensive products by 0.37 percent of GNP. Thisrepresents 11 percent of annual exports of these productsfrom the 24 studied countries.