S. Serban Scrieciu

Is trade liberalisation bad for the environment? A review of the economic evidence

The continued growth in world trade and investment flows has led to a renewed interest among researchers and policy makers in the potential impact that trade liberalisation policy may have on the environment. The aim of this paper is to provide a balanced and accessible summary of the findings of recent economic research on the impact of growth in international trade and investment on environmental quality.

Unilateral climate change mitigation, carbon leakage and competitiveness: an application to the European Union

The setting of binding targets for CO2 emission reductions for 2020 by the European Union (EU) alone has led to concerns that unilateral climate change mitigation may not only hamper the unions competitiveness, but also result in carbon leakage. The paper explores these claims through the deployment of a dynamic, nonlinear, macro-econometric simulation called the Energy-Environment-Economy (E3) Model at the Global Scale (E3MG). In contrast to the generally held view, we argue that overall EU competitiveness may improve. We also argue that unilateral action may be effective in reducing global emissions relative to a no-climate-change-action scenario, although the reduction is very small.