Trade and the Environment: The Role of Firm Heterogeneity

B-Tier
Journal: Review of International Economics
Year: 2014
Volume: 22
Issue: 2
Pages: 209-225

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

In this paper, we derive a new effect of trade liberalization on the quality of the environment. We show that in the presence of heterogeneous firms, the aggregate volume of emissions is influenced by a reallocation effect resulting from an increase in the relative size of more productive firms. The relative importance of this reallocation effect and the scale effect well-known from the literature is affected by the emission intensity at the firm level. Domestic emissions decrease as a result of a unilateral tariff reduction if and only if firm-specific emission intensity decreases strongly with increasing firm productivity. As a result of the induced change in foreign emissions, domestic pollution can increase even if domestic emissions decrease.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:reviec:v:22:y:2014:i:2:p:209-225
Journal Field
International
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25