OECD Economic Studies No. 23, Winter 1994 A SURVEY OF THE TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT NEXUS: GLOBAL DIMENSIONS John Beghin, David Roland-Holst and Dominique van der Mensbrugghe TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................ 168 1. Linkages between trade and environmental policy instruments . . . . . 168 A. Instrument use and cost efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 B. Instrument use and political economy: rent-seeking . . . . . . . . . . 172 II. Environmental regulation and competitiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 A. Theoretical considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 B. The mixed evidence .................................. 176 111. Trade liberalisation, growth and the environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 A. Specialisation and efficiency effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 B. Changes in absorptive capacity and technology . . . . . . . . . . , . . 179 C. Empirical studies on trade liberalisation and the environment . . . 181 IV. Conclusions and research agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Bibliography ................................................ 187 John Beghin is a visiting research fellow on leave from North Carolina State University, David Roland- Holst is a senior economist and research programme head, and Dominique van der Mensbrugghe is a research economist, all three at the OECD Development Centre, Paris. The usual disclaimer about the views expressed in the paper applies. The authors thank Sveinbjorn BIBndal, Andrew Dean and Michael P. Feiner for comments on earlier drafts. 167