F18 - Trade and EnvironmentReturn

In recent decades, the cross-border flow of waste has become increasingly active globally, with existing research primarily attributing this trend to the pollution haven hypothesis. This study re-examines the drivers of global waste trade and explores their implications for sustainability. Using panel data from 117 countries between 1996 and 2020, we find that both developed and developing economies import waste products as resources. However, the resource hunting motive declines and shifts toward higher-value waste when importers adopt recycling policies. When developed exporters implement such policies, importers increase trade value due to lower matching costs. The pollution haven motive drives some waste exports from developed to developing economies, but trade value declines when destination countries strengthen recycling policies. This study deepens understanding of global waste trade and provides empirical insights for policymaking to better balance resource utilization and environmental sustainability.

Expanding imports and promoting balanced trade have been the direction China has been adhering to in recent years, and are also important measures for China to build an open domestic and international dual cycle development pattern. This paper incorporates the emissions of “three industrial wastes” into the production function, uses the Slack Based Measure model and the globally referenced Malmquist-Leuenberger index to measure the green total factor productivity of Chinese enterprises from 2002 to 2013 in order to measure enterprises’ green transformation development. Subsequently, it tests the green development effect of import trade from the perspective of import technology sophistication and import diversification. Afterwards, we discover that the improvement of import sophistication and import diversification can significantly promote enterprises’ green transformation, largely through spillover effects and intermediate import competition effects. Furthermore, the green development promotion effect of import trade is greatly heterogeneous. The research in this article provides beneficial insights for China’s economic opening-up and high-quality economic development.