Globalization and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Evidence from the United States

The US has been a global leader in regulating local air pollution and a global laggard in regulating greenhouse gases (GHGs). For decades, critics of US policy have expressed fears that stringent US regulations on local air pollution would lead to pollution havens overseas. Prior research suggests that has not happened. But what about the converse fear? Are the less stringent US climate regulations causing the US to become a pollution haven for other countries’ GHG-intensive industries? We provide a decomposition of US manufacturing GHG emissions and find no evidence of offshoring either to or from the United States since 1990.