An Optimal Trade policy on Hazardous Waste Led by Exporting Countries

最近，包括危险材料在内的废料从发达国家出口到发展中国家进行回收。在某些情况下，发展中国家在从这些废料中回收资源时采用了不适当的回收方法，环境受到严重污染。为了解决这一问题，一些政治家、环境活动家和研究人员认为，应该通过修改巴塞尔公约来禁止从发达国家向发展中国家出口含有有害物质的废料。我们反对这些政策，因为这种政策必然造成经济损失，抑制发展中国家的经济增长。我们希望提出一项由出口国主导的更灵活的贸易协定，而不是《公约》的禁令修正案。理论和实证研究的一系列结果表明，当发展中国家引入电子废物回收许可证制度等有效的遏制不当回收的政策时，这种灵活的贸易协定能够发挥良好的作用，并促进发展中国家的可持续发展。

Recently, scraps including hazardous materials have been exported from developed countries to developing countries for recycling. In some cases, improper recycling methods are applied when recovering resources from those scraps in developing countries and the environment are severely polluted. As a solution for this problem, some politicians, environmental activists, and researchers have argued that exportation of scraps with hazardous materials from developed to developing countries should be banned by amending Basel Convention. We are opposed to them because such policy does necessarily generate economic loss and depress the economic growth of developing countries. We like to propose a more flexible trade agreement led by exporting countries rather than the ban amendment of the Convention. A series of results obtained in our theoretical and empirical studies show that such a flexible trade agreement can work well and lead to sustainable development of developing countries when those countries introduce effective policies for deterring improper recycling such as licensing system for E-waste recycling.