Trade, Transportation, and the Environment: Welfare Effects of Emissions Reduction and International Emissions Trading

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the environmental regulations of international transport in a two-country model with the international transport sector in each country. International transport generates pollution which is treated as a pure public bad. First, we show that a country may benefit from voluntarily imposing a strict environmental regulation despite this regulation having the effect of shrinking the international transport sector. Second, we find that permit trading between the international transport sectors of two countries benefits an international-transport-importing country, while permit trading may harm an international-transport-exporting country even if it receives all of the direct gains from permit trading.