Laura Marsiliani - Böcker

This collection of 13 papers addresses current issues in international environmental economics in 2002. The papers: analyse the relationship between trade liberalization and environmental policy; analyse the impact of trade liberalization on environmental quality; investigate problems of commitment faced by regulating authorities; provide insights into the Porter hypothesis; and present empirical research related to international competitiveness and location of polluting plants; and address international environmental agreements, with a special focus on income distribution and the political-economy dimension, tradable emission reductions, and the quantitative impact of trade liberalization and the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol on carbon leakage.

This volume inc1udes a selection of papers presented at the second European Research Conference (EURESCO) on "The International Dimension of Environmental Policy" held in Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy, in October 2001. We thank those who made this conference possible: the European Science Foundation (ESF), which provided financial and organizational support; the European Commission EURESCO Programme; the Fondazione ENI Enrico Mattei (FEEM) in Milan; and GLOBUS, Tilburg University. The European Science Foundation (ESF), the EURESCO Programme, FEEM and GLOBUS cannot be held responsible for the contents and/or opinions expressed in this volume. Our gratitude also goes to the people who assisted us in editing this volume: the papers' referees, the authors, our publisher Kluwer, and especially to Stefan Jost in Rostock who handled the manuscript with maximum care during the process of copy-editing. None of these persons bears any responsibilities for remaining errors or shortcomings. Laura Marsiliani, Michael Rauscher, and Cees Withagen [Marsiliani, L., Rauscher, M. and Withagen, c.] (eds.), [Environmental Policy in an International Perspective], xi. (c) 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.Introduction a C Laura Marsiliani , Michael Rauscherb and Cees Withagen a University 0/ Rochester and University 0/ Durham, b University 0/ Rostock, C Free University Amsterdam and Ti/burg University 1. THE ISSUES Nowadays, the proteetion of the environment is one of the most debated issues in the international are~a. Because of the transboundary nature of pollution and the characteristic of the environment as aglobaI public good, international co- operation is highly desirable.

Thirteen papers addressing current issues in international environmental economics. They analyze the relationship between trade liberalization and environmental policy; the impact of trade liberalization on environmental quality; investigate problems of commitment faced by regulating authorities; provide new insights into the Porter hypothesis; present empirical research related to international competitiveness and location of polluting plants; address international environmental agreements, with a special focus on income distribution and the political-economy dimension, tradable emission reductions, and the quantitative impact of trade liberalization and the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol on carbon leakage.The papers in this volume show that even after ten years of intense research both on trade and the environment, and on transfrontier pollution and international environmental agreements, research in this area still produces new, relevant, and thought-provoking ideas and results.