Trade and Tax Policy Reform and the Environment: The Economics of Soil Erosion in Developing Countries

The widespread view that trade reform is bad for the environment has rarely been subjected to close scrutiny. In a developing country model we trace general equilibrium impacts of tax and tariff policy changes on upland resource allocation and, by implication, on the rate of erosion. Our analysis highlights the role of domestic market linkages as conduits between lowland and upland economies. When economywide effects are taken into account, indirect policies such as tariff reforms may in some cases provide better means for reducing upland erosion than would direct environmental policies.