Inequalities in Global Trade: A Cross-Country Comparison of Trade Network Position, Economic Wealth, Pollution and Mortality

Prell, Christina; Sun, Laixiang; Feng, Kuishuang; Myroniuk, Tyler W

Abstract

In this paper we investigate how structural patterns of international trade give rise to emissions inequalities across countries, and how such inequality in turn impact countries’ mortality rates. We employ Multi-regional Input-Output analysis to distinguish between sulfurdioxide (SO2) emissions produced within a country’s boarders (production-based emissions) and emissions triggered by consumption in other countries (consumption-based emissions). We use social network analysis to capture countries’ level of integration within the global trade network. We then apply the Prais-Winsten panel estimation technique to a panel data set across 172 countries over 20 years (1990–2010) to estimate the relationships between countries’ level of integration and SO2 emissions, and the impact of trade integration and SO2 emission on mortality rates. Our findings suggest a positive, (log-) linear relationship between a country’s level of integration and both kinds of emissions. In
addition, although more integrated countries are mainly responsible for both forms of emissions, our findings indicate that they also tend to experience lower mortality rates. Our approach offers a unique combination of social network analysis with multiregional input-output analysis, which better operationalizes intuitive concepts about global trade and trade structure.

Citation

Prell, C., Sun, L., Feng, K., & Myroniuk, T. W. (2015). Inequalities in Global Trade: A Cross-Country Comparison of Trade Network Position, Economic Wealth, Pollution and Mortality. PLoS ONE, 10(12), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144453

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 7, 2015
• Deposit Date: Feb 17, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 13, 2025
• Journal: PLoS ONE
• Electronic ISSN: 1932-6203
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 1-18
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144453
• Publisher URL: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0144453
• Related Public URLs: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0144453