This paper examines the causal impacts of reducing solid waste imports on water quality in China, which was the world’s largest importer of waste until recently. We focus on the National Sword policy, introduced at the end of 2017, which abruptly banned the import of plastics, textiles,...

This paper investigates the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and its causal relationships with economic growth and openness by using time series data (1971-2006) from China (an emerging market), Korea (a newly industrialized country), and...

Between 1990 and 2008, emissions of the most common air pollutants from U.S. manufacturing fell by 60 percent, even as real U.S. manufacturing output grew substantially. This paper develops a quantitative model to explain how changes in trade, environmental regulation, productivity, and consumer...

Production of commodities based on open-access renewable natural resources (NR) has usually been examined under "low" congestion (LC) - where MC AC and both increase with output. I identify two additional congestion categories, "high" (HC) and "super" (SC) congestion - where AC is...

Numerous developing economies depend vitally on renewable natural-resource (NR)-based commodities. This study develops a general equilibrium model to examine the steady-state impact of changes in a small economy's NR congestion under open access and optimal regulation. This issue has often been...

This study examines the effect of a tightening of the U.S. air-quality standard for lead in 2009 on the relocation of battery recycling to Mexico and on infant health in Mexico. In the U.S., airborne lead dropped sharply near affected plants, most of which were battery-recycling plants. Exports...

We use Danish firm-level data to examine the causal link between carbon emissions, offshoring, and import competition. Offshoring reduces firms' emission intensity but increases their production. Import competition reduces firms' production without affecting their emission intensity. For...

We study long-run environmental impacts of trade liberalization on US manufacturing by exploiting a plausibly exogenous reduction in US trade policy uncertainty: the conferral of Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to China. Using detailed data on establishment-level pollution emissions and...

Many developing countries depend crucially on open-access renewable natural resources (NR). Trade is generally viewed as hurting the long-term health of NR in commodity-exporting countries. I examine whether trade might be beneficial in the case of population growth. Dynamic general equilibrium...

Circular economy (CE) is a sustainable development strategy that is being proposed to tackle urgent problems of environmental degradation and resource scarcity. CE's 3R principles are to reduce, reuse and recycle materials. The principles account for a circular system where all materials are...