An Estimation of the Pollution Content of Trade in Korea

Abstract

This paper involves the argument of whether environmental

control measures have a significant effect on the pattern of

trade. We estimate pollution loadings of Korean trade and relative

impact indices of the Korean industries to analyze how

vulnerable Korean competitiveness in the international market

is to increased environmental costs. The results show that in

Korea pollution control charges are approximately trade-neutral

in the aggregate, while they have substantial. effects on the

pattern of trade at the industry level. These are consistent with

other studies in the sense that pollution controls do affect the

comparative advantage in each country.