Effect of environmental policies on exports from sub-Saharan African countries

The objective of this work was to analyse the effects of environmental quality and environmental regulations on the exports of sub-Saharan African countries. Adopting the pollution haven hypothesis as a theoretical framework, we use a gravity model enriched by environmental variables. Our main results indicate that it is the environmental quality of sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, as measured by the Environmental Performance Index, and the differences in environmental quality between a country and its partner that constitute a barrier to SSA exports. It therefore appears important for SSA countries to integrate the environmental factor into their policies to improve the competitiveness of their exports.