This paper tests
the hypothesis pertaining to the interdependencies between trade and
environmental policies in the presence of industry/firm lobbies, which is
captured through industry/firm size. For an unbalanced panel of manufacturing
firms in India at the five-digit National Industrial Classification (NIC), 2008
for the period 2008–2019, I find that firm size has a positive and significant
impact on trade policy. The same holds true for a subset of firms that are
polluting in nature (based on the Central Pollution Control Board
classification). It is found that larger firms have a greater influence on
those trade policies that are set unilaterally by the government. Also, there
is no empirical support in favour of trade and environment linkages in the Indian
context. This could be due to the fact that these two policies come under the
domain of independent ministries of the government. Moreover, environmental
safety assumes less significance and tends to adversely affect the
competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. Notwithstanding the fact that
environmental regulations are in place, the enforcement and monitoring
mechanisms are remarkably weak on account of weak environmental institutions.
~ 若您對這篇文章有興趣,請親自到中心圖書館查閱。 ~