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

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 contai...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Bohringer, Christoph, Rutherford, Thomas F., Tarr, David G., Turdyeva, Natalia
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2014
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

Description
Summary:	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.