The Environmental Implications of Russia's Accession to the World Trade Organization

This report investigates the environmental impacts of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. A 10-region, 30-sector model of the Russian economy is developed. The model is innovative and more accurate empirically in that it contains foreign direct investment, imperfectly competitive sectors, and endogenous productivity effects triggered by World Trade Organization accession along with environmental emissions data in Russia for seven pollutants that are tracked for all 30 sectors in each of the 10 regions. The decomposition analysis shows that despite the fact that World Trade Organization accession allows Russia to import better technologies and reduce pollution from the "technique effect," on balance World Trade Organization accession alone will increase environmental pollution in Russia through a shift toward dirty industries (the "composition effect") and the expansion of output with its associated increase in pollution ("scale effect"). The paper assesses the costs of three types of environmental regulations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent. The paper simultaneously implements a central case scenario with each of the carbon dioxide emission reduction policy initiatives. The analysis finds that the welfare gains of World Trade Organization accession are large enough to pay for the costs of any of the three environmental abatement policies, while leaving a net welfare gain. But the political economy implications are that the non-market-based policies are more costly and the command and control policy, which is not well targeted, is very costly. Based on a constant returns to scale model, the estimated welfare gains are insufficient to finance the costs of environmental regulation.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Bohringer, Christoph, Rutherford, Thomas F., Tarr, David G., Turdyeva, Natalia
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2014-06
Subjects:	ABATEMENT, ABATEMENT POLICIES, ADVERSE IMPACT, AGGREGATE EMISSIONS, AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIES, AIR, AIR POLLUTION, ANNUAL EMISSIONS, BASE YEAR, BENCHMARK, BILATERAL TRADE, CALCULATION, CARBON, CARBON CONTENT, CARBON DIOXIDE, CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSION, CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS, CARBON DIOXIDE REDUCTION, CARBON EMISSION, CARBON EMISSIONS, CARBON MONOXIDE, CARBON TAXES, CENTRAL BANK, CHEMICALS, CLEANER ENVIRONMENT, CLEANER TECHNOLOGIES, CLIMATE, CLIMATE CHANGE, CLIMATE POLICY, CO, CO2, COAL, COAL GENERATION, COAL PRODUCTION, COMBUSTION, COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE, COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES, COMPETITIVE MARKETS, COMPETITIVENESS, CONSTANT RETURNS TO SCALE, CONSUMERS, CRUDE OIL, DECREASE IN EMISSIONS, DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS, DEVELOPMENT POLICY, ECONOMETRIC ESTIMATES, ECONOMIC COSTS, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS, ECONOMIC OBJECTIVES, ECONOMIC WELFARE, ECONOMICS, ECONOMIES OF SCALE, ELASTICITIES, ELASTICITY, ELASTICITY OF SUBSTITUTION, ELECTRICITY, ELECTRICITY GENERATION, ELECTRICITY SECTOR, EMISSION CONTROL, EMISSION INTENSITIES, EMISSION INTENSITY, EMISSION LEVELS, EMISSION REDUCTION, EMISSION TRADING, EMISSION TRADING SYSTEM, EMISSIONS, EMISSIONS DATA, EMISSIONS INTENSITY, EMISSIONS OF POLLUTANTS, EMISSIONS REDUCTION, EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS, EMPIRICAL STUDIES, ENERGY BALANCE, ENERGY EFFICIENCY, ENERGY EFFICIENCY STANDARDS, ENERGY INTENSITY, ENERGY MIX, ENERGY SAVINGS, ENERGY USE, ENVIRONMENTAL, ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING, ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES, ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, ENVIRONMENTAL EMISSIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS, ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES, ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION, ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS, EQUILIBRIUM, EXCHANGE RATE, EXPENDITURES, EXPORTS, EXTERNALITY, FEASIBILITY, FERROUS METALS, FINANCIAL SERVICES, FINANCIAL SUPPORT, FIXED COSTS, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT, FOSSIL FUEL, FOSSIL FUEL COMBUSTION, FOSSIL FUEL USE, FOSSIL FUELS, FREE TRADE, FUEL EFFICIENCY, FUEL SUBSTITUTION, FUEL SWITCHING, GAS, GAS PRODUCTION, GAS SECTOR, GASES, GDP, GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSES, GENERATION CAPACITY, GHG, GREENER PRODUCTION, GREENHOUSE, GREENHOUSE GAS, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION REDUCTION, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, HYDROCARBONS, IMPERFECT COMPETITION, IMPORT PRICES, IMPORTS, INCREASING RETURNS, INCREASING RETURNS TO SCALE, INEFFICIENCY, INPUT USE, INSURANCE, INSURANCE COMPANIES, INTERMEDIATE INPUTS, INTERNATIONAL TRADE, MARGINAL COST, MARGINAL COSTS, MARGINAL REVENUE, MARKET POWER, METALS, MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION, MONOPOLY, MUTUAL FUND, NATIONAL OUTPUT, NATURAL GAS, NATURAL GAS USE, NATURAL RESOURCES, NEGATIVE IMPACT, NEGATIVE IMPACTS, NEW PLANTS, NITROGEN, NITROGEN OXIDE, NOX, OIL, OIL PRODUCTION, OIL PRODUCTS, OPEN ECONOMY, OPTIMIZATION, PARTICULATE, PARTICULATE MATTER, PER CAPITA INCOME, PETROCHEMICAL PRODUCTS, PETROCHEMICALS, POLICY IMPLICATIONS, POLICY MAKERS, POLICY SCENARIO, POLICY SCENARIOS, POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLLUTION, POLLUTION PROBLEMS, POWER GENERATION, PRICE ELASTICITIES, PRICE IMPACTS, PRICE TAKERS, PRODUCERS, PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION, PRODUCTION FUNCTION, PRODUCTION PROCESSES, PRODUCTIVE RESOURCES, PRODUCTIVITY, PUBLIC EXPENDITURES, PURCHASING POWER, RAW MATERIALS, RECYCLING, REFINED OIL, REFINERIES, RESOURCE ALLOCATION, RESOURCE USE, SCALE EFFECT, SECURITIES, SO2, SULFUR, SULFUR DIOXIDE, SULPHUR, SULPHUR DIOXIDE, SUPPLY CURVES, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, TAX RATES, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, TERMS OF TRADE, TOTAL EMISSIONS, TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY, TOTAL OUTPUT, TRADABLE EMISSION, TRADE LIBERALIZATION, TRADE POLICIES, TRADE POLICY, TRADE REFORMS, TRADE SYSTEM, URBAN POPULATION, URUGUAY ROUND, VALUE OF OUTPUT, WELFARE GAINS, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, WTO,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/06/19750328/environmental-implications-russias-accession-world-trade-organization http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19365
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