Does International Agricultural Trade Matter for Carbon Emissions: A Case Study of the Area Along "the Belt and Road Initiative"

Abstract

The research problem of this study is to understand how international agricultural trade affects the carbon emissions. To address this, we have conducted an empirical study based on the panel dataset of 48 countries of 5 regions along "the Belt and Road Initiative" over the period 1995-2014. The impacts of agricultural trade openness on the level of carbon emissions per capita has been investigated. Along with the traditional trade openness, a different trade openness measure is used, called as the adjusted agricultural trade potential index. Based on the findings of the paper, we can draw the following conclusion, that is, the adjusted agricultural trade potential index is negatively associated with the carbon emissions.