This study examines the effect of a tightening of the U.S. air-quality standard for lead in 2009 on the relocation of battery recycling to Mexico and on infant health in Mexico. In the U.S., airborne lead dropped sharply near affected plants, most of which were battery-recycling plants. Exports...

Policymakers aiming for the unilateral regulation of transboundary pollutants, such as greenhouse gases, fear as a consequence rising emissions in non-regulating countries. This so-called pollution haven or carbon leakage effect is of particular concern in emission-intensive and trade-exposed...

We study the political economy of the environment in autocratic, weak and strong democracies when individuals can either mitigate the health consequences of domestic pollution privately or reduce pollution collectively through public policy. The setting is that of a small open economy in which...

Free trade often leads to resource depletion, such as deforestation in the tropics. This paper first presents a dynamic model whereby the South (S) depletes to export the extracted units (lumber) or the produce (beef) from land available after depletion. Because of the damages, the North...

Increasing international fragmentation of production has reinforced fears that industrial activity may flee to countries with laxer environmental policies – in line with the so-called Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH). If PHH effects are strong, domestic responses to environmental challenges...

In this article, we analyzed economic surroundings as a precondition for the development of the tax environment in the context of alterglobal development. We admitted that economic globalization is harmful to the environment because it depends on its own viability: the constant increase in...

There are often conflicts between proponents of trade and environmental activists. This paper shows, however, how trade agreements can be designed so as to motivate environmental conservation. I first analyze a standard trade model, where resource exploitation (e.g., deforestation) is a...