OECD Environment Working Papers
This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies on environmental issues prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal authors are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language English or French with a summary in the other if available.
- ISSN: 19970900 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/19970900
Environmental Policy Stringency and Foreign Direct Investment
This paper examines empirically whether countries with relatively more lax environmental regimes
have a comparative advantage in their competition for foreign direct investment. It seeks to contribute to
the literature in several important ways. First, we use a measure of environmental stringency which is
based on managers’ perceptions of the stringency in a given country and which gives us the opportunity to
analyse a broad sample of both source and host countries. Second, an important strength of the technical
analysis is the non-linear modeling of the impact of policy stringency on FDI. Third, we use a ‘state-of-theart’
FDI modelling strategy, which allows us to differentiate between different models of production
fragmentation. Support is found for the effect of relative environmental policy stringency on foreign direct
investment patterns. However, the effect is relatively small in comparison with other factors, including
more general regulatory quality. Moreover, the relationship appears to be non-linear with the effects of
increased relative environmental policy stringency in the host country decreasing after a certain threshold.
Keywords: governance, knowledge-capital model, pollution haven, foreign direct investment, environmental policies
JEL:
F18: International Economics / Trade / Trade and Environment;
Q56: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth;
F21: International Economics / International Factor Movements and International Business / International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
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