Part of the Problem? The Eurasian Economic Union and Environmental Challenges in the Former Soviet Union.

While there is a sizable body of evidence linking greater economic freedom to better environmental outcomes, there is an ambiguous relationship of trade to the environment. What occurs when trade expands among countries that already have shown that the environment is not a priority? Such an example comes from real life with the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU), a collection of autocracies that have pursued integration but without any extensive, market-based liberalization. This paper examines the role of the EaEU in increasing trade among its member states and shows that the EaEU did indeed lead to more environmentally unfriendly production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]