Economic Analysis in Environmental Reviews of Trade Agreements: Assessing the North American Experience
Author(s)
Gallagher, Kevin P.; Ackerman, Frank; Ney, Luke
Abstract
Beginning in the late 1990s, Canada and the United States began requiring “Environmental Reviews (ERs)” of all trade agreements to be negotiated by each government. This paper, commissioned by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, outlines how ERs have evolved in North America, and evaluates the different methodological approaches that have been employed in ERs thus far. The authors show that the ERs conducted to date have an encouraging number of strengths that can be built upon. However, they also establish that the art of conducting ERs is still in its infancy. They identify four limitations with the methodological approaches that have been employed in the most recent ERs. Based on an analysis of these limitations, they propose four ways to improve how ERs are conducted in the future.
