IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/enreec/v64y2016i3d10.1007_s10640-015-9918-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

MFN Tariff Rates and Carbon Emission: Evidence from Lower-Middle-Income Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Saibal Kar

    (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
    IZA)

  • Devleena Majumdar

    (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
    Jadavpur University)

Abstract

The paper empirically investigates whether developing countries may use trade policy as an alternative to environmental policies in order to control carbon emission. It measures the effectiveness of the existing ‘Most Favored Nations’ (MFN) tariff rates applicable to lower-middle income countries and for countries sorted on the basis of manufacturing-to-trade shares, in lowering carbon emission. By applying a fixed effects panel regression method over 16 years, it is found that the MFN tariff rate helps these economies to reduce carbon emission substantially. In addition, the role of foreign direct investment as purveyor of clean products is explored at the cross-country level. The results, at least on the ground of better environmental standards, indicate the need to re-evaluate the choice for protection under the domain of multilateral trade negotiations.

Suggested Citation

  • Saibal Kar & Devleena Majumdar, 2016. "MFN Tariff Rates and Carbon Emission: Evidence from Lower-Middle-Income Countries," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 64(3), pages 493-510, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:64:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s10640-015-9918-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-015-9918-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10640-015-9918-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10640-015-9918-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mete Feridun & Folorunso Sunday Ayadi & Jean Balouga, 2006. "Impact of Trade Liberalization on the Environment in Developing Countries," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 22(1), pages 39-56, March.
    2. Motta, Massimo, 1992. "Multinational firms and the tariff-jumping argument : A game theoretic analysis with some unconventional conclusions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 1557-1571, December.
    3. Jaraitė, Jūratė & Di Maria, Corrado, 2012. "Efficiency, productivity and environmental policy: A case study of power generation in the EU," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1557-1568.
    4. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    5. Dong, Yan & Whalley, John, 2011. "Carbon motivated regional trade arrangements: Analytics and simulations," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 2783-2792.
    6. Raff, Horst, 2004. "Preferential trade agreements and tax competition for foreign direct investment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 2745-2763, December.
    7. Horn, Henrik & Mavroidis, Petros C., 2001. "Economic and legal aspects of the Most-Favored-Nation clause," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 233-279, June.
    8. Joseph Francois & Miriam Manchin & Hanna Norberg & Olga Pindyuk & Patrick Tomberger, 2013. "Reducing Transatlantic Barriers to Trade and Investment: An Economic Assessment," Economics working papers 2015-03, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    9. Josh Ederington & Jenny Minier, 2003. "Is environmental policy a secondary trade barrier? An empirical analysis," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 137-154, March.
    10. Yan Dong & John Whalley, 2010. "Carbon, Trade Policy and Carbon Free Trade Areas," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(9), pages 1073-1094, September.
    11. Acharyya, Rajat & Kar, Saibal, 2014. "International Trade and Economic Development," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199672851.
    12. Andersson, Jan Otto & Lindroth, Mattias, 2001. "Ecologically unsustainable trade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 113-122, April.
    13. Yuquing Xing & Charles Kolstad, 2002. "Do Lax Environmental Regulations Attract Foreign Investment?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 21(1), pages 1-22, January.
    14. Buddelmeyer, Hielke & Jensen, Paul H. & Oguzoglu, Umut & Webster, Elizabeth, 2008. "Fixed Effects Bias in Panel Data Estimators," IZA Discussion Papers 3487, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Josh Ederington, 2010. "Should Trade Agreements Include Environmental Policy?," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(1), pages 84-102, Winter.
    16. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 1994. "North-South Trade and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(3), pages 755-787.
    17. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Andrew K. Rose, 2005. "Is Trade Good or Bad for the Environment? Sorting Out the Causality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 85-91, February.
    18. Javorcik Beata Smarzynska & Wei Shang-Jin, 2003. "Pollution Havens and Foreign Direct Investment: Dirty Secret or Popular Myth?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 3(2), pages 1-34, December.
    19. Panagariya, Arvind & Rodrik, Dani, 1993. "Political-Economy Arguments for a Uniform Tariff," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(3), pages 685-703, August.
    20. Shafik, Nemat, 1994. "Economic Development and Environmental Quality: An Econometric Analysis," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 757-773, Supplemen.
    21. Kakali Mukhopadhyay & Debesh Chakraborty, 2005. "Is liberalization of trade good for the environment? Evidence from India," Asia-Pacific Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 12(1), pages 109-136, June.
    22. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2010. "Input-output analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in trade: The effects of spatial aggregation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 10-18, November.
    23. Carvalho, Terciane Sabadini & Santiago, Flaviane Souza & Perobelli, Fernando Salgueiro, 2013. "International trade and emissions: The case of the Minas Gerais state — 2005," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 383-395.
    24. Dean, Judith M., 1992. "Trade and the environment : a survey of the literature," Policy Research Working Paper Series 966, The World Bank.
    25. Cole, M.A. & Rayner, A.J. & Bates, J.M., 1997. "The environmental Kuznets curve: an empirical analysis," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(4), pages 401-416, November.
    26. Selden Thomas M. & Song Daqing, 1994. "Environmental Quality and Development: Is There a Kuznets Curve for Air Pollution Emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 147-162, September.
    27. Missios, Paul & Yildiz, Halis Murat, 2006. "The role of MFN under asymmetries in environmental standards," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 297-304, November.
    28. Sugata Marjit & Saibal Kar & Hamid Beladi, 2007. "Trade Reform and Informal Wages," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 313-320, May.
    29. Joysri Acharyya, 2009. "Fdi, Growth And The Environment: Evidence From India On Co2 Emission During The Last Two Decades," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 43-58, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Singhania, Monica & Saini, Neha, 2021. "Demystifying pollution haven hypothesis: Role of FDI," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 516-528.
    2. Karanfil, Fatih & Omgba, Luc Désiré, 2019. "Do the IMF’s structural adjustment programs help reduce energy consumption and carbon intensity? Evidence from developing countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 312-323.
    3. Supratik Guha, 2023. "Does Rising Energy Prices Lead to Production Fragmentation? An Example from Indian Manufacturing Industries," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 24(1), pages 78-100, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 2003. "The Environment and Globalization," NBER Working Papers 10090, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jie HE, 2005. "Economic Determinants for China’s Industrial SO2 Emission: Reduced vs. Structural form and the role of international trade," Working Papers 200505, CERDI.
    3. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Nasreen, Samia & Abbas, Faisal & Anis, Omri, 2015. "Does foreign direct investment impede environmental quality in high-, middle-, and low-income countries?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 275-287.
    4. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Andrew K. Rose, 2005. "Is Trade Good or Bad for the Environment? Sorting Out the Causality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 85-91, February.
    5. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2004. "Trade, Growth, and the Environment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(1), pages 7-71, March.
    6. Dinda, Soumyananda, 2004. "Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis: A Survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 431-455, August.
    7. Jingxia Chai & Yu Hao & Haitao Wu & Yuemiao Yang, 2021. "Do constraints created by economic growth targets benefit sustainable development? Evidence from China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 4188-4205, December.
    8. Frankel, Jeffrey, 2008. "Global Environmental Policy and Global Trade Policy," Working Paper Series rwp08-058, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    9. Frankel, Jeffrey A., 2009. "Environmental Effects of International Trade," Scholarly Articles 4481652, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    10. Debashis Chakraborty & Sacchidananda Mukherjee, 2013. "Do Foreign Trade and Investment Lead to Higher CO2 Emissions? Evidence from Cross-Country Empirical Estimates," Review of Market Integration, India Development Foundation, vol. 5(3), pages 329-361, December.
    11. Rothman, Dale S., 1998. "Environmental Kuznets curves--real progress or passing the buck?: A case for consumption-based approaches," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 177-194, May.
    12. Muhammad Shahbaz & Samia Nasreen & Talat Afza, 2014. "Environmental Consequences of Economic Growth and Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Panel Data Analysis," Bulletin of Energy Economics (BEE), The Economics and Social Development Organization (TESDO), vol. 2(2), pages 14-27, June.
    13. Sabuj Kumar Mandal & Devleena Chakravarty, 2017. "Role of energy in estimating turning point of Environmental Kuznets Curve: an econometric analysis of the existing studies," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 19(2), pages 387-401, October.
    14. Le Hoang Phong & Dang Thi Bach Van & Ho Hoang Gia Bao, 2018. "The Role of Globalization on CO2 Emission in Vietnam Incorporating Industrialization, Urbanization, GDP per Capita and Energy Use," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(6), pages 275-283.
    15. Theodore Panayotou, 2000. "Economic Growth and the Environment," CID Working Papers 56A, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    16. Ayse M. Erdogan, 2014. "Foreign Direct Investment And Environmental Regulations: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 943-955, December.
    17. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Antonio Musolesi, 2011. "Income and time related effects in EKC," Working Papers 201105, University of Ferrara, Department of Economics.
    18. Aller, Carlos & Ductor, Lorenzo & Grechyna, Daryna, 2021. "Robust determinants of CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    19. Blackman, Allen & Mathis, Mitchell & Nelson, Peter, 2001. "The Greening of Development Economics: A Survey," Discussion Papers 10662, Resources for the Future.
    20. Martin Gassebner & Michael Lamla & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2006. "Economic, demographic and political determinants of pollution reassessed," KOF Working papers 06-129, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Carbon emission; MFN; Trade; FDI; Developing countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F11 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Neoclassical Models of Trade
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • N5 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:64:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s10640-015-9918-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.