Cultural and Regulatory Differences in International Trade — Implications for Sustainability?

The call centres around the question of how differences in culture and regulation (formal and informal institutions) may lead to situations where international trade based on comparative advantages derived from such sources no longer are tenable or sustainable. One of the problems with international trade theory may be the failure to take into account the role of institutions (including essential quality aspects of products and services) to the workings of the economy. This is now more apparent in the area of the natural environment than in any other parts of the economy. While theory promises us that trade could lead to the vindication of the highest standards through a gradual process of technological change and social upgrading practice has often shown the opposite to be the case. There is no guarantee that markets or hierarchies will ensure standards of the highest societal value prevailing over time.

The purpose of this call for papers is to foster discussion in this interdisciplinary area of the social sciences related to sustainability outcomes of the international trading system. In particular, we encourage the submission of papers that rely on empirical case studies whether quantitative or qualitative (or both) towards contributing to this discussion. What are the consequences of ignoring the underlying cultural and institutional differences across countries when engaging in and striking international trade agreements? What happens when the underlying differences across countries, their consumer and producer cultures, and economic systems purposefully become the object of arbitrage itself with outset in the principle of comparative advantage? Should we encourage public standards? Or how can current efforts in the private (self and soft governance) and public (hard and soft governance) spheres help to improve standards such as environmental standards? What other potential roles can the private and public spheres assume individually or in collaboration towards fostering a more sustainable trading system?

Dr. Camilla Jensen
Dr. Thorkil Casse
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Sustainable trade
• Environmental upgrading and downgrading
• Comparative advantage
• Institutional (cultural and regulatory) differences
• Standards
• Governance systems