Measuring And Analyzing The Chinese Import And Export Trade Cost Elasticity Of Environmental Goods

As a public product,environmental goods can control environmental pollution and solve environmental problems,moreover,they are conducive to coordinating conflicts between trade development and environmental protection,promoting green trade and achieving sustainable development.What is the overall competitiveness of Chinese environmental goods in foreign trade? Trade cost elasticity is an important tool to answer this question.This thesis selects 32 countries and uses the extended translog gravity model to measure the Chinese import and export trade cost elasticity of environmental goods from 2007 to 2018,then analyzes the export competitiveness and import dependence of Chinese environmental goods.The results show that: firstly,from 2007 to 2018,Chinese total export trade cost elasticity of environmental goods showed a downward trend,while the total import trade cost elasticity showed a clear upward trend.It means that on the whole,the international competitiveness of Chinese environmental goods is getting stronger and stronger,and the dependence on imported environmental products is getting weaker and weaker,which shows that Chinese environmental goods industry is developing rapidly.Secondly,from the perspective of specific trading partner countries,Chinese environmental goods have the most competitive advantages in Vietnam,while the import dependence on South Korea is the highest.This is because among the 31 trading partner countries,the average export trade cost elasticity of Chinese environmental goods to Vietnam is the smallest,only 0.11,and the average import trade cost elasticity of Chinese environmental goods to South Korea is the smallest,only 0.34.Thirdly,from the perspective of the income level of trading partners,it is found that Chinese export trade cost elasticity of environmental goods to high income countries is always the highest,at the same time,the elasticity to middle-high income countries is always the lowest.Chinese import trade cost elasticity of environmental goods to low-middle income countries is always higher than the other two groups,while the elasticity of high income countries is always the lowest.Fourthly,from the perspective of geographic area of trade partner countries,it is found that,on average,Chinese export trade cost elasticity of environmental goods to Europe is the highest,and that to Asia is the lowest.During the sample period,Chinese import trade cost elasticity of environmental goods to European countries is always the lowest,and the elasticity to Asia is always the highest.Further,this thesis divides environmental goods into four categories and conducts heterogeneity analysis.The results show that: Firstly,Environmental Monitoring,Analysis and Evaluation Equipment is the kind of environmental goods whose international market shares is most easily affected by trade cost,and Environmentally Friendly Products is the least one.For trading partner countries,Environmentally Friendly Products is the kind of environmental goods whose market shares in China is most easily affected by trade cost,and Environmental Protection Products is the least one.According to the difference in the import and export trade cost elasticity of environmental goods,it can be seen that,for China,the priority for trade liberalization of environmental goods in four categories is Environmental Protection Products,followed by Environmental Monitoring,Analysis and Evaluation Equipment,Renewable Energy Equipment,Environmentally Friendly Products.Secondly,for the liberalization of trade in Renewable Energy Equipment,the top five trading partners that China should give priority to are France,Germany,Switzerland,Italy and the United States.For Environmental Monitoring,Analysis and Evaluation Equipment,the top five trading partners are France,the United Kingdom,Sweden,the United States and Switzerland.For Environmentally Friendly Products,the top five trading partners are Sweden,Austria,Finland,Germany and Denmark.In the end,according to the results of the calculation and analysis of the Chinese import and export trade cost elasticity of environmental goods,this thesis puts forward policy suggestions for the development of Chinese environmental goods trade.Firstly,promote the liberalization of trade in environmental goods.Specifically,China should strengthen the mutual recognition of environmental goods standards with its important trading partners,energetically take part in the formulation of international environmental goods standards,and labour for the international voice in the environmental goods trade area.In terms of unblocking trade channels for environmental products,both China and its trading partners should strengthen the alignment of economic and trade policies related to environmental goods,promote infrastructure co-construction,improve the trade and investment mechanism for environmental goods,and regularly organize discussions for domestic and foreign related enterprises.Secondly,cultivate new growth points of foreign trade in environmental goods.Specifically,the government should pay attention to environmental technology innovation,play an active part in regional environmental protection and governance,and optimize the industrial structure of environmental goods.Thirdly,formulate differentiated trade policies of environmental goods.For the trading partner countries with the larger the difference between the import and export trade cost elasticity of environmental goods,China should more actively cooperate with them to jointly promote the liberalization of trade in environmental goods.At the same time,the greater the trade cost elasticity difference of environmental goods,the higher the priority of trade liberalization.