Topics in international trade : the economic and environmental effect of capital liberalization in developing countries

Abstract

This paper uses general equilibrium static and dynamic models to examine the economic and environmental effect of capital liberalization policy based on the general equilibrium static and dynamic models. The first topic develops a static general equilibrium model of a small open economy in the presence of unemployment with three sectors: a nontradeable sector, a tradeable sector, and an environmental sector. In the second section, I use a dynamic general equilibrium model of a small open economy in the presence of unemployment with three sectors: an importable sector, an exportable sector, and an environmental sector. In the last section I analyze the environmental effect of a developing country's capital liberalization policy when the consumer values the environment. The dynamic model, based on intertemporal optimization, focuses on the role of how land development is affected by foreign capital investment. The time-varying dynamic policies, such as planned permanent and planned gradual capital liberalization, are investigated to analyze the dynamic path of land and foreign capital stock in the short-run. The major findings of this paper are described as follows. In the long-run dynamic analysis, the production of the environmental good in a developing country is reduced when the developing country has a positive net income effect due to further capital liberalization, if there is an initial shortage of capital investment. The reduction of the environmental good might have a significant welfare impacts on the welfare of a country if the consumer places high value on the environment. This result indicates that countries with less environmental awareness are likely to improve the welfare of their countries whereas countries with strong environmental awareness are likely to reduce the welfare of their countries with capital liberalization. The other important result is that inclusion of the environment in the consumer's utility function slows down the pace of land development in the short-run dynamic model if the developing country lowers its capital investment tax rate.