Trade, Economic Development and the Environment: Bangladeshi Perspective

Abstract

Bangladeshi economy over the last decade has occurred within the framework of a liberal trade and small investment regime as a small open economy. However the environmental problem arises due to all goods and services produced in the economy are directly or indirectly associated with power, energy use (various petroleum oil, gas or coal) and, according to the type of fuel utilized, with emissions as well. Although trade related economic development is a major factor in shaping the structure of Bangladeshi small economy and consequently, in affecting countries' energy use and various air emissions for burning fossil fuels and energy. Therefore the vital question is - 'Is there any trade-offs among energy use, environment and economic growth - in the Bangladeshi economy?' This paper examines the Bangladeshi economy wide implications in 2000 such as CO2, SO2 and NOx emission using input-output analysis, which allows the calculation of emission effect throughout the economy as well as exports-imports activities and we perform scenario analysis of the Bangladeshi economy for 2015 regarding CO2, SO2 and NOx emission.

Keywords: Trade, Development, Energy use, Environment, I-O analysis

JEL Classification: F10, F19, N5, N7