Recent events such as the NAFTA and the completion of the Uruguay Round have raised concern over the impact of trade liberalization on the environment. In particular, it is believed that less stringent environmental standards in developing countries will give them a comparative advantage in...

Some believe that relatively lenient environmental standards give developing countries a comparative advantage in pollution-intensive goods. Thus, freer trade will harm their environment. This paper brings together the literature on openness and growth, and on the environmental Kuznet's curve,...