Endangered species (CITES)
The environment and globalization
Globalisation does not negatively impact on the environment
Authors:
J. Frankel
Publisher:
National Bureau of Economic Research, USA, 2003
This paper examines the relationship between globalisation and the environment. Although it recognises that the relationship is too complicated to draw simplistic conclusions, it finds the following:
- fears that globalisation necessarily hurts the environment through a ‘race to the bottom’ are not well-founded. Rather, if anything, favourable ‘gains from trade’ effects dominate for measures of air pollution such as SO2 concentrations
- perceptions that WTO panel rulings have interfered with the ability of individual countries to pursue environmental goals are also poorly informed. Recent rulings have in fact confirmed that countries can enact environmental measures, even if they affect trade and even if they concern others’ Processes and Production Methods (PPMs), provided the measures do not discriminate among producer countries
- as real incomes rise, their demand for environmental quality rises. This translates into environmental progress under the rights conditions, including democracy, effective regulation, and externalities that are largely confined within national borders and are therefore amenable to national regulation
- increasingly, however, as environmental problems spill across borders, economic growth alone will not address such problems, in a system where each country acts individually. Multilateral institutions are needed to address these issues
[from the author]
[This working paper is available free over the internet to readers in most developing or transition countries: if your internet connection does not automatically identify you as linking from one of these countries, you will be asked to fill in a registration form first. For those in other countries, either a series subscription or the purchase of individual reports is necessary]
[Please note: this article is accessible online, free of charge to residents of nearly any developing country or transition economy, whose internet-access address can be automatically recognised by the NBER website. If you are in a developing country/transition and still have access problems, email wwp@nber.org for support]
