International trade and renewable natural resources

Brian R. Copeland

Chapter 26 in Elgar Encyclopedia of International Trade, 2026, pp 130-133 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The key question in the literature on trade and renewable resources is how openness to international trade affects resource depletion. Property rights are often not well defined or are hard to enforce for many renewable resources (such as fisheries). This leads to harvesting externalities, and in such cases, free markets do not generate sufficient incentives for resource conservation. Opening up to freer trade can exacerbate the harvesting externalities. Resource management is a key factor in determining the pattern of trade and the effects of trade on resource depletion and welfare. Effective conservation policy can give a country a comparative advantage in the resource good and generate gains from trade. Trade policy (such as banning imports of poorly managed resources) has sometimes been used but can be ineffective when used by only a small coalition of countries and can sometimes yield perverse effects.

Keywords: Externalities; Trade and the environment; Resource conservation; Market failure; Fisheries; Forestry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035327492
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