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What is Sustainable Trade?

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Globalization, Growth and Sustainability

Part of the book series: Recent Economic Thought Series ((RETH,volume 58))

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Abstract

In the global economy of the 1990s, attempts to define and implement policies for “sustainability” at the local or national level are not sufficient. Transboundary pollution, global resource depletion, erosion of environmental standards and government capacity by trade agreements--all are signals that any meaningful concept of “sustainability” must address and incorporate the issue of international trade. How much and/or what kind of trade can be considered “sustainable”?

This paper surveys the current debate on trade and sustainability, summarizing various perspectives on the issue. These range from the view that any trade inherently violates sustainability, to the view that totally free trade is necessary for sustainability. There is a correlation between how “sustainability” is defined and how trade is viewed; the stronger one’s definition of “sustainability” the more negative trade’s effects. The paper proposes and discusses a series of indicators for gauging the degree of sustainability of trade in specific circumstances.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. York University, Canada

    Patricia Perkins

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  1. Patricia Perkins
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

    Satya Dev Gupta

  2. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Nanda K. Choudhry

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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Perkins, P. (1997). What is Sustainable Trade?. In: Gupta, S.D., Choudhry, N.K. (eds) Globalization, Growth and Sustainability. Recent Economic Thought Series, vol 58. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6203-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6203-0_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7844-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-6203-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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