Globalization and Environmental Regulation

Abstract

A wide range of authoritative indicators establishes what we sense in our daily lives: the effects of international influences and factors are increasing. This trend is most easily observed in economic activity. Goods and money move around the globe at levels that until recently seemed unimaginable. Even nations, such as the United States, whose economies were only marginally dependent on trade, are drawn into world trade. While total trade, the sum of exports and imports, was 6.5 percent of U.S. Gross National Product (GNP) in the period 1946-59, it was 15.3 percent in the period 19801992(Economic Report of the President1994). U.S. trade dependence continued to increase, growing 44 percent between 1992 and 1996. By 1996, trade was equivalent to 30 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (U.S. Trade Representative 1997). Cross border investment stock (assets in the United States owned by foreigners plus assets owned by Americans overseas) grew from 15.45 of GNP in 1960 to 41 percent in 1992 and has continued at a faster rate than the growth in GNP overall(Economic Report of the President1995). The United States, although it remains less trade dependent than other countries such as the United Kingdom, is now fully part of international markets.