Trade, technical progress and the environment: the role of a unilateral green tax on consumption

The paper proposes a two-country general equilibrium model of endogenous growth and trade between two regions, North and South, with different environmental standards. Pollution is a by-product of consumption and in order to abate it the northern region unilaterally imposes a green tax on consumption. As the tax affects domestic demand of consumer goods according to their pollution intensities, regardless of where those goods are produced, the model shows that such a unilateral environmental policy can increase the speed of technological change and pollution abatement in both regions.