Ecosystem Services and Global Trade of Natural Resources

3  Economics of Global Trade and Ecosystem Services

David Zilberman

Introduction

The gains from free trade have been one of the main themes of economic theory. However, economists have not paid much attention to the environmental implications of trade. Natural capital and ecosystem services, including provisioning services like food and energy, and regulating services like crop pollination and disease control, contribute to countries’ endowments and affect their trade patterns. Trade activities affect the environment of different nations. Economists have realized that market forces tend to ignore their environmental implications and policy intervention is needed to correct market and trade outcomes. A wide array of policies including cap and ...