Handbook on Trade and the Environment

Handbook on Trade and the Environment Synopsis

In this comprehensive reference work, Kevin Gallagher has compiled a fresh and broad-ranging collection of expert voices commenting on the interdisciplinary field of trade and the environment. For over two decades policymakers and scholars have been struggling to understand the relationship between international trade in a globalizing world and its effects on the natural environment. The authors in this Handbook provide the tools to do just that.

The editor's well-worked introduction synthesizes the emerging themes of the collection, which is divided into three sections: trade and environmental quality, trade and environmental politics, and trade and environmental policy. Topics include the extent to which trade liberalization creates 'pollution havens' where dirty industries flock to poorer countries with lax environmental standards, and conversely, how multinational corporations bring 'cleaner' environmental technologies to developing countries when they choose to move abroad. The volume also addresses the extent to which national environmental policy and/or global environmental agreements clash with the emerging rules of the World Trade Organization and whether such environmental policies hinder export competitiveness. Finally, numerous political economy analyses of the complex political coalitions that arise to adapt to and mitigate changes in trade and environmental policy are provided. In addition to broader overviews of the field, in-depth case studies of nations and regions are offered, including the United States, the European Union, China, India and Mexico as well East Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

The volume will serve as a guide for scholars new to the field as well as students and policy-makers needing a quick reference to the research on the interface between trade and the environment.