Does the depth of environmental provisions in trade agreements inhibit the quality of export products?Evidence from China's trading partners
The inclusion of environmental provisions in trade agreements is beneficial to global environmental governance but may affect the export quality.This study constructs a theoretical model to explain the impact of the depth of environmental provisions on the quality of export products and then empirically examines this impact and its underlying mechanisms based on the data from 12 trade agreements signed by China from 2000 to 2017 and the products exported to 22 agreement partners.The study finds that the depth of environmental clauses has a significant inhibitory effect on the quality of export products,and this effect gradually weakens over time.The higher the level of environmental regulation in partner countries,the stronger the inhibitory effect.The heterogeneity analysis shows that the depth of environmental clauses has the strongest inhibitory effect on the quality of pollution-intensive products and the greatest decrease over time;the inhibitory effect of the depth of environmental clauses on the quality of environmental products is the weakest,and it gradually diminishes over time and becomes insignificant three years after the trade agreement takes effect.The inhibition effect shows an inverted U-shaped trend with improvements in average product quality.The depth of environmental provisions affects the quality of China's export products by increasing the costs of environmental compliance and improving average productivity,with the cost effect outweighing the technological effect.The findings are of great significance for China's participation in the formulation of international green rules and the improvement in export quality.
trade agreementdepth of environmental provisionsexport-product qualityenvironmental regulationenvironmental compliance costsenvironmental products
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