Document Type
Article
Abstract
International trade, while promoting economic growth and development, is one of many suspects contributing to excessive rates of environmental degradation. Free trade compromises environmental quality in favor of welfare improvements and economic prosperity. The difficulty of measuring environmental amenities, trade theory’s inability to address externalities and decisions overtime, and numerous market failures regarding socially optimal prices, serve as red flags requiring intervention. The most successful form of intervention is domestic policies that internalize externalities. Intervention is also necessary to balance the interests of environmentalists and free traders and to ensure that the gains from trade are devoted to environmental protection.
Publication Date
Spring 1999
Journal Title
Major Themes in Economics
Volume
1
Issue
1
First Page
40
Last Page
62
Copyright
©1999 by Major Themes in Economics
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Ubben, John R.
(1999)
"Trade Liberalization and Environmental Quality: Opposing Viewpoints, Additional Issues, and the Necessity of Intervention,"
Major Themes in Economics, 1, 40-62.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/mtie/vol1/iss1/5