Consumer waste, backhauling, and polution havens



Document title: Consumer waste, backhauling, and polution havens
Journal: Journal of applied economics
Database: CLASE
System number: 000399375
ISSN: 1667-6726
Authors: 1
Institutions: 1University of Montana, Economics Department, Missoula, Montana. Estados Unidos de América
Year:
Season: Nov
Volumen: 13
Number: 2
Pages: 283-304
Country: Argentina
Language: Inglés
Document type: Artículo
Approach: Aplicado
English abstract Pollution havens have received a great deal of attention in the past 15 years. However, the literature has focused almost exclusively on production side externalities and whether dirty industry migrates to countries with lax environmental laws. More recently, concerns have been raised about the rapid explosion of consumption side pollution such as e-waste and its trade in international markets. Between 1996 and 2007, US exports of waste plastics and ferrous waste along the USA-Asia trade route increased by 917% and 482%, respectively. Over the same time period the average freight rate on commercial liners along the USA-Asia trade route fell by 46%, while average freight rates along the Asia-USA trade route increased by 2.9%. This paper develops a two country trade model with endogenous asymmetric transport costs as well as externalities associated with harmful waste generated from consumption. It shows that even when both governments set optimal Pigouvian taxes on the consumption of the dirty good, endogenous asymmetric transport costs can lower the ‘backhaul’ rate from North to South. This creates an environmental arbitrage condition by which it is cheaper for the North to export its waste to the South rather than dispose of it at home. The model yields a number of clear predictions regarding the relationship between country characteristics, the international terms of trade, the backhaul shipping rate, and the North's export supply function of waste
Disciplines: Economía,
Ingeniería
Keyword: Comercio internacional,
Econometría,
Teorías económicas,
Economía del transporte,
Ingeniería electrónica,
Ingeniería ambiental,
Medio ambiente,
Desechos electrónicos,
Contaminación ambiental
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