We study the transboundary ecological incidence of the U.S. Ballast Water Management Act (2012), which requires vessels to exchange coastal ballast water in the open ocean before entering U.S. ports. Using particle tracking through ocean currents, we trace where organisms released during mid-ocean exchange drift along Caribbean and Pacific coastlines. Coastlines that receive more of those organisms record significantly more invasive species after 2012. We also find that more species arrive, more of them become common, and no single species dominates.
Keywords: introduced species, ballast water, environmental regulation, maritime trade, transboundary externalities
JEL: Q56, Q58, F18, R41
Candau, F., Lafferrere, F. and Schlick, J. (2026). “Unintended Consequences of a Clean Regulation: How the U.S. Ballast Water Act Led to Transboundary Invasion of Alien Species.” Working paper, HAL hal-05655879.
@unpublished{CandauLafferrereSchlick2026Ballast,
author = {Candau, Fabien and Lafferrere, Florian and Schlick, Julie},
title = {Unintended Consequences of a Clean Regulation: How the {U.S.} Ballast Water Act Led to Transboundary Invasion of Alien Species},
year = {2026},
note = {Working paper, HAL hal-05655879},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05655879}
}