Carbon Motivated Regional Trade Arrangements: Analytics and Simulations

30 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2009 Last revised: 29 Aug 2022

See all articles by Yan Dong

Yan Dong

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS)

John Whalley

University of Western Ontario - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); Centre for International Governance and Innovation (CIGI)

Date Written: April 2009

Abstract

This paper presents both analytics and numerical simulation results relevant to proposals for carbon motivated regional trade agreements summarized in Dong & Whalley(2008). Unlike traditional regional trade agreements, by lowing tariffs on participant's low carbon emission goods and setting penalties on outsiders to force them to join such agreements , carbon motivated regional trade agreements reflect an effective merging of trade and climate change regimes, and are rising in profile as part of the post 2012 Copenhagen UNFCC negotiation. By adding country energy extraction cost functions, we develop a multi-region general equilibrium structure with endogenously determined energy supply. We calibrate our model to business as usual scenarios for the period 2006-2036. Our results show that carbon motivated regional agreements can reduce global emissions, but the effect is very small and even with penalty mechanisms used, the effects are still small. This supports the basic idea in our previous policy paper that trade policy is likely to be a relatively minor consideration in climate change containment.

Suggested Citation

Dong, Yan and Whalley, John, Carbon Motivated Regional Trade Arrangements: Analytics and Simulations (April 2009). NBER Working Paper No. w14880, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1391827

Yan Dong (Contact Author)

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) ( email )

Beijing, 100732
China

John Whalley

University of Western Ontario - Department of Economics ( email )

London, Ontario N6A 5B8
Canada
519-661-3509, ext. 83509 (Phone)
519-661-3666 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/economics/faculty/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

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Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.CESifo.de

Centre for International Governance and Innovation (CIGI) ( email )

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Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6C2
Canada

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