Trade Transport And Environment Linkages At The U.S. Mexico Border: Which Policies Matter?

We apply a fixed-effects model to examine the impact of trade and environmental policies on air quality at ports along the U.S. Mexico border. We control for other factors influencing air quality, such as air quality of cities near the border, volume of traffic flows and congestion. Results show the air quality improved after 2004, when the diesel engine policy was applied. We see mixed results for the trade policy, whose implementation time varies across ports along the international border. Controlling for air quality in cities near the border is essential for assessing the policy contributions to air quality.

Linda Fernandez has been associate professor of environmental and resource economics at UC Riverside since 2005. She received her PhD from UC Berkeley’s Dept. of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Her research explores public and private economic incentives for pollution control and natural resource protection through empirical applications of economic theory. Her research can be divided into three major categories: 1) transboundary environmental problems; 2) biodiversity; 3) air and water quality regulations.