Trade Costs, CO2, and the Environment
Abstract
This paper quantifies how international trade affects CO2 emissions and analyzes the welfare consequences of regulating the CO2 emissions from shipping. To this end, the paper describes a model of trade and the environment, compiles new data on the CO2 emissions from shipping, and estimates key parameters using panel data regressions. Results show that the benefits of international trade exceed trade's environmental costs due to CO2 emissions by two orders of magnitude. While proposed regional carbon taxes on the CO2 emissions from shipping would increase global welfare and increase the implementing region's GDP, they would also harm poor countries. (JEL F18, H23, H87, L92, Q54, Q56)
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Estimated gains from industrial policy remain fairly similar for three out of four studies, ranging from 0.68% to 1.84% on average.
“Although there is a wide range of trade elasticity estimates across these four studies (as seen in Table B.3), estimated gains from industrial policy remain fairly similar for three out of four of these studies, ranging from 0.68% to 1.84% on average.”
From The Textbook Case for Industrial Policy: Theory Meets Data (2019) · cites this paper as Shapiro, 2016
Cites
How Much Should We Trust Differences-in-Differences Estimates?
Bertrand, M., Duflo, E., & Mullainathan, S. (2004) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/003355304772839588 · Cited by 10,641 · see citing works
Plants and Productivity in International Trade
Bernard, A. B., Eaton, J., Jensen, J. B., & Kortum, S. (2003) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/000282803769206296 · Cited by 2,980 · see citing works
Anderson, J. E., & van Wincoop, E. (2004) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/0022051042177649 · Cited by 2,524 · see citing works
Klein Goldewijk, K., Beusen, A., van Drecht, G., & de Vos, M. (2011) · Global Ecology and Biogeography · doi:10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00587.x · Cited by 1,270 · see citing works
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The Textbook Case for Industrial Policy: Theory Meets Data
Bartelme, D., Costinot, A., Donaldson, D., & Rodríguez-Clare, A. (2019) · NBER Working Paper · doi:10.3386/w26193 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
- Authors
- Shapiro, J. S.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Shapiro, Joseph S.
- ORCID
- Shapiro, Joseph S.
- Venue
- American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2016-11-01
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 220-254
- ISSN
- 1945-7731 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-774X
- OpenAlex
- W2548044168
- Cited by
- 116
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 5.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Economic Journal Economic Policy (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Maritime Transport Emissions and Efficiency
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Energy, Environment, Economic Growth
- Keywords
- international trade, CO2 emissions, ship emissions, carbon tax, trade and environment, welfare effects, developing countries
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