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Pollution havens and the trade in toxic chemicals: Evidence from U.S. trade flows

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  • Tang, John P.

Abstract

National registries of toxic chemical emissions and facilities are increasingly used to raise public awareness of potential health hazards in local areas, but an unintended consequence may be the offshoring of production to less regulated countries. Using disaggregated U.S. trade data, this study examines the impact of registry listing on subsequent bilateral trade flows. Estimates from a difference-in-differences model indicate a significant shift toward imports from poorer countries following registry listing. Assuming that environmental protection is a normal good, this result suggests the emergence of pollution havens due to more stringent U.S. environmental regulation.

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  • Tang, John P., 2015. "Pollution havens and the trade in toxic chemicals: Evidence from U.S. trade flows," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 150-160.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:112:y:2015:i:c:p:150-160
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.02.022
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    Cited by:

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    2. Markusen, James R., 2012. "Per-Capita Income as a Determinant of International Trade and Environmental Policies," Discussion Papers 2013-06, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    3. James R. Markusen, 2014. "Per-Capital Income as a Determinant of International Trade and Environment Policies," CESifo Working Paper Series 4618, CESifo.
    4. Yingbin Zhang & Xiang Cai & Youjin Liu & Zhengli Xu & Junmei Gao & Sohail Ahmad Javeed, 2023. "What leads to pollution burden shifting among the Belt and Road countries? Evidence from 61 B&R countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 4831-4862, June.
    5. Fozia Latif Gill & K Kuperan Viswanathan & Mohd Zaini Abdul Karim, 2018. "The Critical Review of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH)," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(1), pages 167-174.
    6. Saeed Mohamad Taghvaee & Behrouz Omaraee & Vahid Mohamad Taghvaee, 2017. "Maritime Transportation, Environmental Pollution, and Economic Growth in Iran: Using Dynamic Log Linear Model and Granger Causality Approach," Iranian Economic Review (IER), Faculty of Economics,University of Tehran.Tehran,Iran, vol. 21(2), pages 185-210, Spring.
    7. Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Roubaud, David & Farhani, Sahbi, 2018. "How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 356-367.
    8. Ertugrul, Hasan Murat & Çetin, Murat & Şeker, Fahri & Dogan, Eyüp, 2015. "The impact of trade openness on global carbon dioxide emissions: Evidence from the top ten emitters among developing countries," MPRA Paper 97539, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Mar 2016.
    9. Zhang, Zengkai & Zhu, Kunfu & Hewings, Geoffrey J.D., 2017. "A multi-regional input–output analysis of the pollution haven hypothesis from the perspective of global production fragmentation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 13-23.

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