Environmental Implications of International Trade and Uneven Development: Toward a Critique of Environmental Economics

Abstract

The main premises and the environmental implications of neoclassical trade theory and environmental economics are put under Marxist scrutiny. An attempt is then made to develop an alternative Marxist approach in investigating the specific significance of the capitalist mode of production and, more specifically, the environmental implications of international trade and uneven development. As argued, environmental degradation is largely the result of capitalist development and not of "underdevelopment" or poverty in Southern countries. It is further argued that international trade is ruled by absolute and not comparative advantage. This has important environmental implications insofar as the non-optimal effects of specialization, in terms of resource use, and the imbalancing effects of free trade tend to exacerbate the environmental problem.