The European common market and the environment: the case of the emission of NO_xby motor cars

Abstract

Mainstream economics tends to take for granted the welfare gains from international free trade areas. The Cecchini report which estimated the benefits of the single EC market from 1992 disregard the social costs of growth in their calculations. This applied especially to the area of environmental issues. Whilst we cannot consider all aspects of the environment we focus here upon the area of air pollution caused by motor car emissions. A detailed consideration of EC policy in this area is conducted. It is concluded that an effective policy in this area involves tensions vis-a-vis the anticipated benefits of the freer market after 1992.