Are international environmental policies effective? The case of the Rotterdam and the Stockholm Conventions

Thais Nunez-Rocha and Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso

Economic Modelling, 2019, vol. 81, issue C, 480-502

Abstract: This is the first paper to show that participation in an international environmental agreement has some effectiveness. Our identification strategy consists of applying difference-in-differences techniques in a panel data framework to various levels of data aggregation. We find that ratification of the Rotterdam Convention (RC) and the Stockholm Convention (SC) leads to a reduction in trade of hazardous substances from OECD to non-OECD countries. In particular, we find that when the exporter ratifies the RC, there is a reduction in the import of hazardous chemicals of about 7 percent. In the case of the SC, the results show significant reductions of around 16 percent in trade shipments of persistent organic pollutants. This reduction is more than double the effect found for the RC, which was expected due to a more restricted obligation imposed by the SC convention.

Keywords: International environmental agreements; Hazardous chemicals; Persistent organic pollutants; International trade; Gravity model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F13 F14 F18 Q53 Q56 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: Are International Environmental Policies Effective? The Case of the Rotterdam and the Stockholm Conventions (2019)
Working Paper: Are International Environmental Policies Effective? The Case of the Rotterdam and the Stockholm Conventions (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:81:y:2019:i:c:p:480-502

DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2018.04.013

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