E-Book Overview
The relationship between trade and the environment has become an increasingly contentious issue between economists and environmentalists. Economists maintain that trade helps the natural environment because rich countries can better afford to protect their unspoiled areas. Environmentalists counter that the pursuit of national wealth drives global environmental degradation and that free trade accelerates the process.Instead of arguing one side or the other, this book uses new analytic methods, including a systems dynamics model, to seek an answer to the impasse. Using lateral pressure theory to account for politics within and among nations, it extends the theory's initial application (which was to explain the onset of war) to the environment by specifying additional connections between the natural and social spheres. In making explicit the complex causal connections between world trade and environmental degradation, the book finds that GNP increases in the rich, developed countries are linked to deforestation in the poorer, developing countries. It also uses insights derived from this finding to critique current trade policy prescriptions.
E-Book Content
lofdahl-79014 lofd79014˙fm October 30, 2001 16:15 Environmental Impacts of Globalization and Trade I lofdahl-79014 lofd79014˙fm October 30, 2001 16:15 Global Environmental Accord: Strategies for Sustainability and Institutional Innovation Nazli Choucri, editor Nazli Choucri, editor, Global Accord: Environmental Challenges and International Responses Peter M. Haas, Robert O. Keohane, and Marc A. Levy, editors, Institutions for the Earth: Sources of Effective International Environmental Protection Ronald B. Mitchell, Intentional Oil Pollution at Sea: Environmental Policy and Treaty Compliance Robert O. Keohane and Marc A. Levy, editors, Institutions for Environmental Aid: Pitfalls and Promise Oran R. Young, editor, Global Governance: Drawing Insights from the Environmental Experience Jonathan A. Fox and L. David Brown, editors, The Struggle for Accountability: The World Bank, NGOs, and Grassroots Movements David G. Victor, Kal Raustiala, and Eugene B. Skolnikoff, editors, The Implementation and Effectiveness of International Environmental Commitments: Theory and Practice Mostafa K. Tolba, with Iwona Rummel-Bulska, Global Environmental Diplomacy: Negotiating Environmental Agreements for the World, 1973–1992 Karen T. Litfin, editor, The Greening of Sovereignty in World Politics (1998) Edith Brown Weiss and Harold K. Jacobson, editors, Engaging Countries: Strengthening Compliance with International Environmental Accords Oran R. Young, editor, The Effectiveness of International Environmental Regimes: Causal Connections and Behavioral Mechanisms Ronie Garcia-Johnson, Exporting Environmentalism: U.S. Multinational Chemical Corporations in Brazil and Mexico Lasse Ringius, Radioactive Waste Disposal at Sea: Public Ideas, Transnational Policy Entrepreneurs, and Environmental Regimes Robert G. Darst, Smokestack Diplomacy: Cooperation and Conflict in East-West Environmental Politics Urs Luterbacher and Detlef F. Sprinz, editors, International Relations and Global Climate Change Edward L. Miles, Arild Underdal, Steinar Andresen, Jørgen Wettestad, Jon Birger Skjærseth, and Elaine M. Carlin, Environmental Regime Effectiveness: Confronting Theory with Evidence Erika Weinthal, State Making and Environmental Cooperation: Linking Domestic and International Politics in Central Asia Corey L. Lofdahl, Environmental Impacts of Globalization and Trade: A Systems Study II lofdahl-79014 lofd79014˙fm October 30, 2001 16:15 Environmental Impacts of Globalization and Trade A Systems Study Corey L. Lofdahl The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, E