Trade and green innovation
We aim to evaluate the impact of international trade, with a special consideration for countries where the labor cost is low (China, India), on innovation pertaining to green technologies which enable processes to consume less energy, materials and generate less pollution. Our hypothesis is that gaining access to low cost primary and secondary products through international trade lowers the economic drive for companies to develop new technologies which would use less primary and secondary products. There may very well be a disincentive effect of international trade on green innovation.