New Views of Trade and Sustainable Development: Using Sen’s Conception of Development to Re-examine the Debates

The document critiques the common assumption that economic growth (GDP) is equivalent to development, proposing instead that development should be viewed as the expansion of individual freedoms and capabilities. It argues that trade liberalization only contributes to sustainable development when accompanied by strong domestic institutions—such as education, health, and environmental management—that provide the instrumental freedoms necessary for individuals to act as agents of change. The author suggests that WTO-mandated reforms should move away from 'cookie-cutter' strategies toward tailored packages that protect the policy space needed for developing countries to build these essential domestic institutions.

• Current debates on trade and the environment are often split between the 'Great Destroyer' model, which views trade liberalization as a cause of increased resource use and pollution, and the 'Saviour' model, which posits that trade leads to higher incomes and subsequently higher environmental standards via the Environmental Kuznets’ Curve (EKC).
• The author argues that the standard framework used by the WTO and NGOs like IISD and Oxfam relies on a problematic implicit equation where economic growth is treated as equivalent to development.
• Applying Amartya Sen's framework, development is redefined as the process of expanding 'capabilities'—the various things an individual values doing or being—through the provision of constitutive and instrumental freedoms.
• Sen identifies five basic types of instrumental freedoms essential for development: political freedoms/civil rights, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency guarantees, and protective security.
• Environmental integrity is categorized as a component of 'protective security'; environmental degradation acts as a source of 'unfreedom' by eroding resource bases, destroying natural services, causing socially-disruptive adjustments (such as sea-level rise in the South Pacific), and damaging health.
• Trade liberalization is insufficient for sustainable development unless a country possesses strong domestic institutions of freedom, including public education, health provision, and environmental management.
• The author suggests that the WTO should move away from 'cookie-cutter' reform strategies in favor of tailored liberalization packages and exemptions that allow developing countries to prioritize the creation of domestic institutions over immediate trade obligations.

APA

Cosbey, A. (2004). New Views of Trade and Sustainable Development: Using Sen’s Conception of Development to Re-examine the Debates. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_new_views_trade_sd.pdf

Chicago

Cosbey, Aaron. New Views of Trade and Sustainable Development: Using Sen’s Conception of Development to Re-examine the Debates. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2004. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_new_views_trade_sd.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Cosbey |first1=Aaron |title=New Views of Trade and Sustainable Development: Using Sen’s Conception of Development to Re-examine the Debates |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=April 2004 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_new_views_trade_sd.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cosbey2004new, author = {Cosbey, Aaron}, title = {{New Views of Trade and Sustainable Development: Using Sen’s Conception of Development to Re-examine the Debates}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2004}, month = apr, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_new_views_trade_sd.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }