Defining the Optimal Implementation Space of Environmental Regulation in China’s Export Trade
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
- Does the introduction provide sufficient background and include all relevant references?
The introduction adequately covers forth the context of the research. The author highlights how differences between China and developed countries are narrowing down and therefore further studies on the topic are needed. The introduction could be slightly improved especially when the author addresses protectionism measures took against China. The author should also consider that these measures have been taken also to counteract subsidies granted to Chinese companies. While higher prices could in theory reduce anti dumping investigations on Chinese products the same could not be said for subsidies. Further, higher prices because of the increase of the technical contents of such products (in this particular case environmental regulation) could also open consistencies problems with other WTO agreements such as the TBT Agreement. It would be interesting to add more info on this topic and better frame the challenges that the country could face
- Is the research design appropriate?
The paper starts with an overview of the context of the essay via an analysis of the literature with particular attention to environmental issues attached to trade and then presents the research hypothesis in section 3. The development of the theoretical model is included in section 4 and in section 5 the author discusses the results. Lastly, the author provides interesting conclusions based on the results of the analysis.
- Are the conclusions clearly presented?
The conclusions presented are supported by the result. It would be beneficial ,as clarified under the final section of this review, more information from an international economic law perspective.
Comments and suggestions to the authors:
The article provides an interesting and sound analysis of the effects of environmental regulations on trade by taking as a case study China. The decision to focus on export trade is timely in light of the current pandemics. COVID-19, in fact, is reshaping our current understanding of trade relations but could also be seen as the author states as a way to ‘enhanced trade competitiveness, simultaneously transform the mode of economic development and realize high-quality foreign trade’. The article proceeds from the introductory part via the analysis of the literature on the topic to the development of the model.
The reviewer would like to suggest to better frame the policy recommendations under the concluding remarks of the study. Because of Sustainability readership it would be beneficial in fact to better describe under the conclusions how the three solution as envisaged by the author could be reached. Additional information on the functioning of antidumping regulations and subsidies could in fact have a positive effects on the readership of the study. It would be beneficial to better cover the feasibility of the suggestions presented in the conclusions in two separate aspects: external and internal. Regarding the external the feasibility of the suggestions should be assessed in light of the current functioning of the trade and investment regime. As an example, the author suggests that an ‘inclusive trade policy based on environmental regulation needs to be established’. In light of the current crisis of multilateralism this suggestion could be extended to a multilateral or regional level? The Belt and Road Initiative is active in standard settings and placed policy coordination as one of the key principles. Regarding the internal feasibility, some suggestions seem to require a drastic and radical change of some core characteristics of the national both legal and economic model. For instance, SOEs are slowing down environmental regulations and, as recognized by the author, high energy consumption and high pollution enterprises should be reformed. It would be beneficial to further elaborate on internal and external feasibility of the suggestions.
Author Response
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The introduction is too short and too messy. It does not explain at all what, why and how the Authors are trying to study. The goal of the paper needs to be clearly specified. The research methods must be mentioned. The structure of the paper needs to be described. The literature review is very brief and only few studies are mentioned. Moreover, the contribution of the paper with respect to the previous studies must be carefully discussed. The paper lacks a theoretical framework which makes the interpretation of the results difficult. In fact section 4 called 'theoretical model' does not contain a theoretical model but an empirical model that is not directly related to any theory. The specific mechanisms underlying the postulated relationships are not explained. The research hypotheses are not derived directly from any unified theoretical framework and are not properly discussed. The postulated empirical relationships need to be carefully explained by referring to specific theories, and in particular to the theories of international trade. The theory should motivate the choice of control variables in the estimated equations. For example, the variables that affect the costs of production such as wages, energy prices, etc. should be taken into account. Moreover, the paper mostly uses the fixed number of explanatory variables in the ad hoc specification and lacks the robustness tests with respect to the sensitivity of the estimated specification. Therefore, it is not known what happens when additional factors are taken into account. Hence, the most important concern regards the empirical analysis which does not move behind the simple characterization of facts. Moreover, the properties of the dataset must be better discussed. The pairwise correlations table needs to be added. The datset needs to be updated to include more recent years.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer:
Thank you very much for your letter and the comments from the referees about our paper submitted to 854409.
We have learned much from the reviewers’ comments, which are encouraging and constructive. After carefully studying the comments and your advice, we have made corresponding changes. The red part below is the modification or addition(The blue part is the review comments).
Thank you very much for the hard work and the contribution. If you have any question about this paper, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for your efforts.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear Authors,
The Article is written very well.
In article I do not only see appropriate abstract. The purpose of the article and the methodology should be clearly written in the abstract.
It is worth emphasizing the scientific value and added value of the article.
Description of research results should be extended to include scientific discussion.
I would also suggest to extend the literature review.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer:
Thank you very much for your letter and the comments from the referees about our paper submitted to 854409.
We have learned much from the reviewers’ comments, which are encouraging and constructive. After carefully studying the comments and your advice, we have made corresponding changes. The red part below is the modification or addition(The blue part is the review comments).
Thank you very much for the hard work and the contribution. If you have any question about this paper, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for your efforts.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors revised the paper according to the suggestions of the reviewer. The edited version of the manuscript is able to overcome the main shortcoming of the previous version: the section dedicated to the policy recommendations. It is beneficial that the authors followed the advice to frame the recommendations in internal and external. By doing so, the regression model elaborated by the authors can offer interesting and innovative insights to policy makers. The new phase of the Chinese economy and the increasing importance of high end technology should be in fact accompanied by import and export green trade standards green standards that prompt for higher level of environmental protection. Not only Chinese national enterprises could benefit from an improved and strengthened regulatory framework but also foreign ones. Similarly, the needed reforms to better integrate environmental protection considerations into national industrial policy are now included in the manuscript, even if the authors did not mention the importance of reforming SOEs. The addition of the literature on resource based theory is able also to complement the authors analysis.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
Thank you very much for your professional review, which is very important for us to revise and optimize this article and further research.
We checked and optimized the language of the whole article for many times, and basically reached our satisfaction.
Thank you very much. we wish you all the best.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors have addressed all the suggestions and recommendations.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
Thank you very much for your professional review, which is very important for us to revise and optimize this article and further research.
We checked and optimized the language of the whole article for many times, and basically reached our satisfaction.
Thank you very much. We wish you all the best.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
