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Structural Dynamics of International Trade and Material Consumption: A Cross-National Study of the Ecological Footprints of Less-Developed Countries

Journal of World-Systems Research

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Title Structural Dynamics of International Trade and Material Consumption: A Cross-National Study of the Ecological Footprints of Less-Developed Countries
 
Creator Jorgenson, Andrew A.
Rice, James
 
Description Many social scientists argue that more-developed countries externalize their environmental costs through the tapping of resources of less-developed countries, which reduces levels of consumption in the latter while increasing forms of environmental degradation within their borders. However, these assertions lack systematic empirical support. This study offers a new conceptualization of the structure of international trade that may help to partly resolve this issue: weighted export flows, which quantifies the relative extent to which exports are sent to higher-consuming, more-developed countries. Our hypothesis is that less-developed countries with higher levels of exports sent to more-developed countries exhibit lower domestic levels of resource consumption, measured as ecological footprints. In a series of regression models of per capita ecological footprints for less-developed countries in 2000, evidence is found supporting the hypothesis. The negative effect of weighted export flows on the per capita footprints of nations is robust, net of the often cited impacts of capital intensity, urbanization, domestic inequality, human capital, and other export-related characteristics. Results of this study provide empirical evidence of the environmental impacts of the structure of international trade and outline a new methodological approach to studying uneven ecological exchange.
 
Publisher University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
 
Date 2015-08-26
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/393
10.5195/jwsr.2005.393
 
Source Journal of World-Systems Research; Volume 11, Issue 1, 2005; 57-77
1076-156X
 
Language eng
 
Relation http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/393/405
 
Rights Copyright (c) 2015 Andrew A. Jorgenson, James Rice
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0