Trade and Renewable Resources in a Second Best World: An Overview

Posted: 9 Sep 2005

See all articles by Erwin H. Bulte

Erwin H. Bulte

Tilburg University - Department of Economics; Wageningen University

Edward B. Barbier

Colorado State University, Fort Collins - Department of Economics

Abstract

We provide an overview and introduction to the emerging field of trade and renewable resources, and discuss the potential impact of trade liberalization on welfare and resource conservation. A key factor determining the effect of trade reform is the institutional context or property right regime, and our survey is organized such that it loosely follows the development of new insights with respect to institutions in the literature. This implies a transition from the benevolent planner's model to the polar opposite benchmark of open access in the 1990's. Currently the pendulum is swinging back towards management and regulation, but institutions are treated as endogenous. We discuss and compare various key models in some detail and search for common ground between protagonists and antagonists of free trade.

Keywords: natural resource management, sustainability, trade and property rights, trade liberalization and environment, WTO

JEL Classification: F18, Q2, Q56

Suggested Citation

Bulte, Erwin H. and Barbier, Edward B., Trade and Renewable Resources in a Second Best World: An Overview. Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 30, pp. 423-463, 2005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=796146

Erwin H. Bulte

Tilburg University - Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands
+31 13 466 9111 (Phone)

Wageningen University

Hollandseweg 1
6706 KN
Wageningen
Netherlands

Edward B. Barbier (Contact Author)

Colorado State University, Fort Collins - Department of Economics ( email )

Fort Collins, CO 80523-1771
United States

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