The effect of trade liberalisation on environmental conditions has yielded significant debate in the energy economics literature. Although research on the relationship between energy consumption, ...emissions and economic growth is not new in South Africa, no study specifically addresses the role that South Africa's foreign trade plays in this context. A surprising fact given trade is one of the most important factors that can explain the environmental Kuznets curve. This study employs recent South African trade and energy data and modern econometric techniques to investigate this. The main finding of interest in this paper is the existence of a long run relationship between environmental quality, levels of per capita energy use and foreign trade in South Africa. As anticipated per capita energy use has a significant long run effect in raising the country's CO2 emission levels, yet surprisingly higher levels of trade for the country act to reduce these emissions. Granger causality tests confirm the existence of a positive bidirectional relationship between per capita energy use and CO2 emissions. Whilst the study also finds positive bidirectional causality between trade and income per capita and between trade and per capita energy use, it appears however that trade liberalisation in South Africa has not contributed to a long run growth in pollution-intensive activities nor higher emission levels.
•A long run relationship between CO2 emissions, levels of energy use & trade in SA.•Per capita energy has a significant long run effect in raising SA's CO2 levels.•Trade reduces CO2 emissions through stimulating technological innovations.•Positive bidirectional causality between per capita energy use & CO2 emissions.•Bidirectional causality between trade & income and trade & energy use.
Railroads of the Raj Donaldson, Dave
The American economic review,
04/2018, Volume:
108, Issue:
4-5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
How large are the benefits of transportation infrastructure projects, and what explains these benefits? This paper uses archival data from colonial India to investigate the impact of India’s vast ...railroad network. Guided by four results from a general equilibrium trade model, I find that railroads: (1) decreased trade costs and interregional price gaps; (2) increased interregional and international trade; (3) increased real income levels; and (4) that a sufficient statistic for the effect of railroads on welfare in the model accounts well for the observed reduced-form impact of railroads on real income in the data.
The impact of economic and trade expansion of China on Burkina Faso's economy is analyzed in this work through three channels: trade in goods and services, foreign direct investment and development ...assistance. To capture the direct and indirect effects of Chinese growth, we use a computable general equilibrium model. The results show that expanded trade with China leads to an increase in domestic prices, an increase in exports to China among product categories for which exports increases, and an increase in imports. The effect on growth, value added ad household wellbeing is small. We find a decline in domestic prices, an increase in exports and a decline in imports. Higher FDI inflows induce additional economic growth equal, increased total labour demand and increased average household well-being, especially among cotton farmers.
International cooperation, including through international legal instruments, appears important for the conservation of large carnivores worldwide. This is due to, inter alia, the worrying ...conservation status and population trends of many large carnivore species; the importance of large carnivores for biodiversity conservation at large; their occurrence at low densities, with many populations extending across various countries; and the international nature of particular threats. For the 31 heaviest species in the order Carnivora, this study (i) documents to what extent existing international legal instruments contribute to large carnivore conservation, and (ii) identifies ways of optimizing their contribution in this regard. From this dual perspective, it reviews all global wildlife conservation treaties—Ramsar Wetlands Convention, World Heritage Convention, Convention on Trade in Endangered Species, Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)—and selected regional instruments, using standard international law research methodology. Results indicate that a substantial body of relevant international law already exists, whereas simultaneously there is clear potential for enhancing the contribution of international law to large carnivore conservation. Avenues for pursuing this include promotion of instruments’ effective implementation; clarification of their precise implications for large carnivore conservation; development of formal guidance; expansion of instruments’ scope in terms of species, sites and countries; and creation of new instruments. The CMS and CBD hold particular potential in some of these respects. The experiences being gained under European legal instruments constitute an interesting ‘laboratory’ regarding human coexistence with expanding large carnivore populations and transboundary cooperation at the (sub)population level.
From Exception to Promotion: Re-Thinking the Relationship between International Trade and Environmental Law tells a new, unconventional story of the relationship between international trade and ...environmental law, where the keyword is synergy rather than conflict, and where sustainable development and environmental protection are portrayed as part of the very nature and purpose of the trade regime.; Readership: Academics and students interested in international trade and environmental law, as well as in the interface between different areas of international law.
Contains practical advice and strategies for CEOs, boards of directors, senior managers, and anyone else directly involved in supply chain activities. The MaxTrends(tm) are happening, and the risks ...of doing nothing about them are high. The world economy as we once knew it will never return. The challenge now is for U.S. companies to figure out how to adapt to the quickly changing landscape.
This study determined the influence of renewable energy and natural resources on carbon emissions by paying special attention to the transboundary trade relationship between South East Asian (SEA) ...economies. To highlight the importance of international trade relationships among the SEA economies, an interaction term is introduced. Moreover, to estimate the results, panel data from 1996 to 2019 is analyzed by applying Cross-Sectional Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL). The results show that renewable energy consumption is a significant factor that can reduce carbon emissions. The employment of interaction term shows that international trade improves the influence of renewable energy to control carbon emissions. The findings also depict that natural resources consumption is stimulating carbon emissions. While a strong trade bond is helping to reduce the influence of natural resources consumption on carbon emissions. The findings of this study highlight the importance of international trade at the regional level to mitigate carbon emissions. The study suggests that improvement in international trade may prove a helpful strategy to promote renewable energy sources and diminish the reliance on natural resources such as fossil fuels, this will ultimately help to mitigate carbon emissions.
•Study exposes the role of renewable energy to control CO2 emissions through CS-ARDL.•International trade improves the influence of renewable energy to control carbon emissions.•International trade will help to promote renewable energy utilization in the SEA region.•Renewable energy helps to reduce the reliance and the excessive use of natural resources.•The study suggests cross-border trade of renewable clean energy to mitigate CO2 emissions.
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