Open Access Renewable Resources: Trade and Trade Policy in a Two-Countrymodel

Abstract

This paper develops a two-good, two-country model with national open access renewable resources. We derive an appropriate analog of `factor proportions' for the renewable resource case and link it to trade patterns and to the likelihood of diversified production. The resource importer gains from trade. However, a diversified resource exporting country necessarily suffers a decline in steady state utility resulting from trade, and may lose along the entire transition path. Thus the basic `gains from trade' presumption is substantially undermined by open access resources. Tariffs imposed by the resource importing country always benefit the resource exporter, and may be pareto-improving.