Seminar in International Economics: Using trade provisions to make environmental agreements more dynamic

The Competence Centre for International Economics Research (FIW) kindly invites to participate in the Seminar in International Economics on the topic

Using trade provisions to make environmental agreements more dynamic

Description: The paper examines the impact of trade provisions on treaty dynamism. It distinguishes between static treaties, which remain unchanged, and dynamic treaties, which evolve by generating new commitments through additional rules or the inclusion of new parties. The research argues that incorporating trade provisions into multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) enhances their dynamism. These provisions can empower interest groups to advocate for new international commitments and encourage businesses in non-party states to pressure their governments to join the MEA. By analysing a dataset of 647 MEAs, the study finds that provisions restricting economic activities are associated with higher numbers of amendments and accessions. These findings provide crucial insights into addressing the ‘ambition/participation dilemma’ of MEAs and designing more flexible treaties, particularly at a time of growing interest in using trade measures to establish international climate clubs.

Speaker: Clara Brandi is Head of Department at the German Instiute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) and Professor of International Economics / Development Economics at the University of Bonn. She studied economics and political science in Freiburg and Oxford and received her PhD from the European University Institute.

Discussant: Joschka Wanner is an assistant professor of quantitative international and environmental economics at the University of Würzburg, fellow at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and CESifo affiliate. He is an economist working on international and environmental economics, as well as on econometrics. His work is related to the so-called gravity model in international trade. He obtained his PhD in economics from the University of Bayreuth in November 2019.

Venue: This is an online event – please register here.

Event language: English.

The seminar series is organised by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) in co-operation with FIW and the European University Institute. The seminar provides a forum for presentation and discussion of recent academic research in the field of international economics.

This event will be recorded.