Have international pollution protocols made a difference?

Elisabeth Isaksen ()

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Evaluating the effectiveness of international agreements is inherently difficult due to problems such as self-selection, spillovers, anticipation effects, and aggregate-level data. In this paper, I provide new and arguably more credible estimates on the effects of three major pollution protocols on SO2, NOx, and VOC emissions. I do so by combining a newly available global dataset on emissions dating back to 1970 with a generalized version of the synthetic control method. By constructing “synthetic” controls that mimic the pre-treatment development of each affected country, I mitigate bias caused by self-selection and non-parallel emission trends. The broader data coverage - both geographically and over time - allows me to examine the importance of spillovers and anticipation effects. Results from the estimation show that all three protocols induced emissions reductions well beyond a (synthetic) counterfactual development.

Keywords: Emissions; International environmental agreements; Pollution; Synthetic control method; Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment; Research Council of Norway (grant 215831) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F53 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2020-09-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Published in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 1, September, 2020, 103. ISSN: 0095-0696

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/105812/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

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Journal Article: Have international pollution protocols made a difference? (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:105812

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