Environmental Issues on The Trade-Related Agenda. Evidences from Romania

During the last decades, the problem of determination between trade, as one of the main driver of economic growth, and the quality of the environment has born dilemmas and debates which have exceeded the area of academic interest and have gained prevalence in international organizations and political circles. In our study, we aim to test the existence of a possible relations between the specialization of the Romanian economy and part of its environmental problems. Using the series of statistical data available for 1990-2014, firstly we have tested the hypothetical inverse relationship between national income and emissions of pollutants (SO2), or what we know as the Environmental Kuznets Curve. In the case of Romania, the results have confirmed the existence of such an inverted curve. Secondly, using the Merchandise Trade Specialization Index, we have questioned the possible influence of Romanian specialization in the production and consumption through trade on the pollution level. We draw the conclusion that far from being a kind of ”creative destruction”, Romanian deindustrialization after 1990 is rather a form of premature deindustrialization. In such a context, this evolution cannot be attributed exclusively to the economic growth, but it must be analyzed from a wider perspective, as a result of a complex of determinants.