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 the problems of self-selection, spillovers, and aggregate-level data. In this paper, I provide new and arguably more credible estimates on the effects of the Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) protocols on three different pollutants: SO2, NOx, and VOCs. I address the problem of non-parallel emission trends by constructing “synthetic” controls that mimic the pre-treatment development of each affected country. Using a new dataset covering more regions and a longer period than previously applied, I find that all three protocols induced emissions reductions well beyond a (synthetic) counterfactual development.

Keywords: international environmental agreements; pollution; emissions; synthetic control method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F53 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 103 pages
Date: 2018-12-06
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:139506

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