We empirically investigate the responsiveness of international trade to the stringency of environmental regulation. Stringent environmental regulation may impair the export competitiveness of ‘dirty’ domestic industries, and as a result, ‘pollution havens’ emerge in countries where...

The study shows that trade could play a positive role in the diffusion of environment-friendly technologies around the world and is backed up by the five case studies on chemical-intensive agriculture, deforestation, global warming, acid rain, and overfishing.