Does international trade liberalization constraint (international and) domestic environmental regulation?

Abstract

In this thesis, our objective is to present the connection and the dependence that exists between trade and environment. We firstly mention the importance of trade liberalization to different sectors and mainly the interaction of trade with the environment. There is a remarkable connection between trade and environment that has impelled economists to investigate this interdependence intensively. We present the effects of free trade to the environment and also the positive and negative consequences of this connection. Is there a need for cooperation among nations in order to face environmental problems? That is a main question discussed in this thesis. We discuss the relation among trade, growth and environment analyzing the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis from the aspect of scale, composition and technique effect. After having discussed the trade-environment nexus, we refer to some effective instruments in order to face domestic and transnational pollution.