환경규제가 국제경쟁력에 미치는 영향

An Examination of Environmental Regulation and the International Competitiveness of U.S. Manufacturing Industries

This paper examines the hypothesis that environmental regulations erode international competitiveness using U.S. panel data. The analysis is based on a cross-sectional (inter-industry) version of the well-established Heckscher-Ohlin model of international trade. This study improves existing research results such as Kalt(l988) in two aspects. First, two digit U.S. Standard Industrial Classification(SIC) data for the entire period of 1973 to 1990 are employed to test the hypothesis. The panel data set supports much stronger statistical tests. Second, a trend variable is included in estimating the model to investigate changes over time in the trade impacts of environmental regulations. This essay would be the first study that tests the trend effect of the regulatory stringency on international competitiveness. The empirical results in this study provide the evidence that strongly supports the hypothesis. It was also found that the international competitiveness effects of U.S. environmental regulations have diminished over time since the early 1970s. The findings in this study suggest that the trade effect of environmental regulations does not depend upon its absolute stringency, but upon relative stringency between countries. However, a more direct analysis of this issue awaits the development of reliable international comparative data.