Ecological Unequal Exchange: International Trade and Uneven Utilization of Environmental Space in the World System

TLDR

Uneven dynamics of environmental space use highlight inequitable appropriation and ecological unequal exchange. We evaluate whether international trade influences disproportionate cross‑national utilization of global renewable natural resources. We use OLS regression with slope dummy interaction terms to analyze trade effects on per‑capita ecological footprint demand in 2002, stratified by country income level. Analyses of 137 countries reveal that low‑ and lower‑middle‑income nations with higher export shares to core industrialized countries exhibit lower environmental consumption, contradicting neoclassical theory and showing that trade constrains consumption in these countries.

Abstract

We evaluate the argument that international trade influences disproportionate cross-national utilization of global renewable natural resources. Such uneven dynamics are relevant to the consideration of inequitable appropriation of environmental space in particular and processes of ecological unequal exchange more generally. Using OLS regression with slope dummy interaction terms, we analyze the effects of trade upon environmental consumption, as measured by per capita ecological footprint demand for 2002, delineated by country income level. Based on data for 137 countries, analyses reveal low- and lower middle-income countries characterized by a greater proportion of exports to the core industrialized countries exhibit lower environmental consumption. The results contradict neoclassical economic thought. We find trade shapes uneven utilization of global environmental space by constraining consumption in low and lower middle-income countries.