Free Trade and the Environment Essay -- Globalization Economics Pollut

Free Trade and the Environment Economic Implications of Free Trade Throughout the academic discipline of economics, much attention has been lavished on the purely economic benefits of free trade as opposed to autarky. Economists have argued that both consumer and producer stand to gain from uninhibited international trade. The consumer gains access to greater quantities of a specific good at a more competitive price, while the producer is able to shift his resources into the economy’s comparative-advantage industries. In addition to static gains from trade such as increases in economic well being, free trade brings about dynamic gains as well, which further increase the expand the economic resources of the involved country. Similarly, some researchers have also pointed out the detriments accruing from free trade, especially for highly industrialized and successful states, such as the United States. Since Heckscher-Olin predicts international factor price equalization, there has been alarm that low-skilled wages in the U.S. would soon approach the wage rates paid in developing countries. This has been a concern championed by protectionists such as Patrick Buchanan. Considering Long-Term Environmental Impact However, an equally important and perhaps somewhat neglected factor, in determining a course of economic policy vis-Ã  -vis international trade should be considerations about long-term environmental impact. In this paper, we will venture to discuss the effect of free trade on the environment, taking into account current trends in international economics, and comparing different perspectives on the issue. In 2002, The Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America, a joint effort by the US, Canada, ... ...with an increase in available resources, will enable the country to curb pollution. Cleary, though the goal through all this is to bring the world’s poorest countries from the depths of failure to prosperity, all with the lowest possible damage to the environment. SOURCES CONSULTED Antweiler, Werner and Brian Copeland and M. Scott Taylor. 1998. Is Free Trade Good for the Environment? National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA Balko, Radley. 2004. Free Trade and the Environment. < http://www.aworldconnected.org/article.php/558.html> Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America. 2002. Free Trade and the Environment: The Picture Becomes Clearer. CEC, Montreal Husted, Steven & Michael Melvin. 2004. International Economics. Pearson Addison-Wesley, Boston Kwong, Jo. 1994. Environment and Free Trade. The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty