The Custom-House

Carbon Cap-and-Trade and Trade

It appears increasingly likely that the U.S. will adopt a system of limited and transferable emission allowances (a cap-and-trade approach) to control greenhouse gas emissions.  Robert Stavins, the environmental economist from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, discusses the issues involved in in this working paper: Addressing Climate Change with a Comprehensive U.S. Cap-and-Trade System (AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, November 2007):

Some Evidence for Pollution Havens

Miguel Quiroga, Thomas Sterner, and Martin Persson find evidence that "lax environmental regulations induce comparative advantages, causing the least-regulated countries to specialize in polluting industries.": Have Countries with Lax Environmental Regulations a Comparative Advantage in Polluting Industries?

Cleaner Chinese Exports

Judith Dean and Mary E. Lovely find that "Econometric results support the view that increased FDI and production fragmentation have contributed positively to the decline in the pollution intensity of China's trade, as has accession to the WTO and lower tariff rates." (Trade Growth, Production Fragmentation, and China's Environment, National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2008).  Here's the whole abstract:

Will Rising Oil Prices Choke Off Trade?

Menzie Chinn wonders: De-Globalization? Musing about Oil Prices and Trade Costs (Econbrowser, March 20).                                                   

Or are we really on the edge of a new age of sail: Football field-sized kite powers latest heavy freight ship (networkworld, November 26, 2007); SkySails (company website); Wind-Powered Freighter Crossing the Atlantic (Sail Brooklyn, January 27, 2008); Are Wind-Assisted Ships in our Future? (Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends, March 7, 2005).

The kite-assisted MV Beluga (Beluga Group) has just completed its maiden voyage from Bremerhaven to Venezeula and back using the innovative SkySails system:

What Do Americans Think About FDI?

Kenneth Scheve and Mathew Slaughter looked at American ideas about the economic impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI) in their paper on Globalization and the Perceptions of American Workers (Peterson Institute, 2001). 

All the responses they report came from polls in the late 1980s and the 1990s.  Although the results are from different polls conducted over more than 10 years, they treat the results as if they came from a body of persons at a given point in time.

What Have Americans Thought About Trade?

In 2001 Kenneth Scheve and Matthew Slaughter took a look at 60 years worth of U.S. opinion polls with questions on trade - over 500 questions asked between 1938 and 2000.  They what they found in a short book published by the Peterson Institute in 2001: Globalization and the Perceptions of American Workers. 

Most of their conclusions are illustrated with questions from the 1990s, and are not related in detail to the broader set of questions examined.  That makes it hard to tell how much their conclusions depend on the few questions they use for examples, or on a broader review of the complete set of questions.  Also, a lot has also happened in the last seven years.  That said, here are 15 of the things they found:

Enforcement of Labor Provisions in U.S. FTAs

Both Clinton and Obama want to see the labor provisions of US FTAs toughened.  Mary Jane Bolle of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) gives an idea of what they have in mind in this short, new paper: Overview of Labor Enforcement Issues in Free Trade Agreements (February 29, 2007). 

Bolle identifies four patterns or models for labor provisions in past U.S. FTAs. Then she looks at the issues they raise with respect to enforcement of the labor provisions:

Some More Ideas for the New CFIUS Regulations

Last year Congress reformed the process by which the U.S. reviews foreign investments to identify security concerns (Foreign Investment and National Security Act - FINSA).  Reviews are carried out by the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS)  Now the Treasury is preparing a rule to bring regulations up to date.

Yesterday Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney (a key mover behind FINSA), and Luis Gutierrez, all of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter the the Treasury (Frank, Maloney, Gutierrez Call on Treasury to Address Sovereign Wealth Funds in FINSA Regulations) yesterday weighing in with two ideas for the new rule:

Where do the candidates get their economic advice

Clinton talks to Gene Sperling, McCain with Douglas Holtz-Eakin, and Obama with Austan Goolsbee: Economy: Who the candidates really listen to (Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com, March 5).  This is a once over lightly.  h/t Greg Mankiw.

What would happen if NAFTA were renegotiated?

Robert Lawrence of the Peterson Institute has some thoughts (Much Ado about NAFTA, Guardian, March 7):