IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/inn/wpaper/2009-04.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Environmental Regulation and Investment: Evidence from European Industries

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea M. Leiter
  • Arno Parolini
  • Hannes Winner

Abstract

This paper contributes to the empirical literature on the relationship between environmental regulation and firm behavior. In particular, we ask whether and how strongly investment decisions of firms respond to stringency in environmental regulation. Environmental stringency is measured as (i) an industry's total current expenditure on environmental protection, and (ii) a country's revenue from environmental taxes. Focusing on European industry level data between 1995 and 2005, we estimate the differential impact of environmental stringency on four types of investment: gross investment in tangible goods, in new buildings, in machinery, and in 'productive' investment (investment in tangible goods minus investment in abatement technologies). Both environmental variables enter positively, and their quadratic terms exhibit significantly negative parameter estimates. This, in turn, indicates a positive but diminishing impact of environmental regulation on investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea M. Leiter & Arno Parolini & Hannes Winner, 2009. "Environmental Regulation and Investment: Evidence from European Industries," Working Papers 2009-04, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    • Handle: RePEc:inn:wpaper:2009-04
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.uibk.ac.at/downloads/c4041030/wpaper/2009-04.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dam, Lammertjan & Scholtens, Bert, 2008. "Environmental regulation and MNEs location: Does CSR matter?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 55-65, August.
    2. John A. List & Daniel L. Millimet & Per G. Fredriksson & W. Warren McHone, 2003. "Effects of Environmental Regulations on Manufacturing Plant Births: Evidence from a Propensity Score Matching Estimator," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 944-952, November.
    3. Matthew A. Cole & Robert J. R. Elliott & Per G. Fredriksson, 2006. "Endogenous Pollution Havens: Does FDI Influence Environmental Regulations?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 108(1), pages 157-178, March.
    4. Shadbegian, Ronald J. & Gray, Wayne B., 2005. "Pollution abatement expenditures and plant-level productivity: A production function approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2-3), pages 196-208, August.
    5. Costantini, Valeria & Crespi, Francesco, 2008. "Environmental regulation and the export dynamics of energy technologies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 447-460, June.
    6. Wayne B. Gray & Ronald J. Shadbegian, 1998. "Environmental Regulation, Investment Timing, and Technology Choice," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 235-256, June.
    7. List, John A. & Co, Catherine Y., 2000. "The Effects of Environmental Regulations on Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 1-20, July.
    8. Eliste, Paavo & Fredriksson, Per G., 2002. "Environmental Regulations, Transfers, and Trade: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 234-250, March.
    9. Stephen Bond & Costas Meghir, 1994. "Dynamic Investment Models and the Firm's Financial Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(2), pages 197-222.
    10. Judith M. Dean & Mary E. Lovely & Hua Wang, 2017. "Are foreign investors attracted to weak environmental regulations? Evaluating the evidence from China," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Mary E Lovely (ed.), International Economic Integration and Domestic Performance, chapter 9, pages 155-167, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2004. "Trade, Growth, and the Environment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(1), pages 7-71, March.
    12. repec:clg:wpaper:2008-02 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Jerneja Jug & Daniel Mirza, 2005. "Environmental Regulations in Gravity Equations: Evidence from Europe," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(11), pages 1591-1615, November.
    14. Josh Ederington & Arik Levinson & Jenny Minier, 2005. "Footloose and Pollution-Free," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 92-99, February.
    15. Tim Jeppesen & John A. List & Henk Folmer, 2002. "Environmental Regulations and New Plant Location Decisions: Evidence from a Meta‐Analysis," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 19-49, February.
    16. Abay Mulatu & Raymond J.G.M. Florax & Cees A. Withagen, 2004. "Environmental Regulation and International Trade," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-020/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    17. Cave, Lisa A. & Blomquist, Glenn C., 2008. "Environmental policy in the European Union: Fostering the development of pollution havens?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 253-261, April.
    18. Conrad, Klaus & Wastl, Dieter, 1995. "The Impact of Environmental Regulation on Productivity in German Industries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 615-633.
    19. Arik Levinson & M. Scott Taylor, 2008. "Unmasking The Pollution Haven Effect," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(1), pages 223-254, February.
    20. Gray, Wayne B. & Shadbegian, Ronald J., 2003. "Plant vintage, technology, and environmental regulation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 384-402, November.
    21. Adam B. Jaffe et al., 1995. "Environmental Regulation and the Competitiveness of U.S. Manufacturing: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 132-163, March.
    22. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    23. Wolfgang Keller & Arik Levinson, 2002. "Pollution Abatement Costs and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows to U.S. States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(4), pages 691-703, November.
    24. van Soest, Daan P. & List, John A. & Jeppesen, Tim, 2006. "Shadow prices, environmental stringency, and international competitiveness," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(5), pages 1151-1167, July.
    25. Matthew A. Cole & Robert J. R. Elliott, 2003. "Do Environmental Regulations Influence Trade Patterns? Testing Old and New Trade Theories," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1163-1186, August.
    26. Cameron,A. Colin & Trivedi,Pravin K., 2005. "Microeconometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521848053.
    27. Gray, Wayne B & Shadbegian, Ronald J, 1998. "Environmental Regulation, Investment Timing, and Technology Choice," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 235-256, June.
    28. M A Cole & R J R Elliott, 2003. "Do Environmental Regulations Influence Trade Patterns? Testing New and Old Trade Theories," Economics Discussion Paper Series 0310, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    29. Arik Levinson, 1999. "State Taxes and Interstate Hazardous Waste Shipments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 666-677, June.
    30. Timothy J. Bartik, 2002. "The Effects of Environmental Regulation on Business Location in the United States," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Wayne B. Gray (ed.),Economic Costs and Consequences of Environmental Regulation, pages 129-151, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    31. Levinson, Arik, 1996. "Environmental regulations and manufacturers' location choices: Evidence from the Census of Manufactures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1-2), pages 5-29, October.
    32. Mulatu Abay & Florax Raymond J.G.M. & Withagen Cees, 2003. "Environmental Regulation and International Trade: Empirical Results for Germany, the Netherlands and the US, 1977-1992," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 3(2), pages 1-30, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chiara Franco & Giovanni Marin, 2013. "The Effect of Within-Sector, Upstream and Downstream Energy Taxes on Innovation and Productivity," SEEDS Working Papers 0214, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Jan 2014.
    2. Teresa Famulska & Jan Kaczmarzyk & Małgorzata Grząba-Włoszek, 2022. "Environmental Taxes in the Member States of the European Union—Trends in Energy Taxes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-20, November.
    3. Rui Zhu & Mengting Liu & Liyu Long & Congjia Huo, 2022. "Environmental Regulation, Political Connections, and Corporate Green Investment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-20, October.
    4. Abdullah, Sabah & Morley, Bruce, 2014. "Environmental taxes and economic growth: Evidence from panel causality tests," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 27-33.
    5. Reimund Schwarze & Gert G. Wagner, 2009. "Natural Hazards Insurance in Europe - Tailored Responses to Climate Change Needed," Working Papers 2009-06, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    6. Jowita Trzcielinska & Renata Kaps, 2021. "Perception of Changes in the Companies' Environment and Pro-Environmental Attitudes of Managers in Polish Enterprises in the Context of Implementation of Sustainable Development Driven by the European," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 5), pages 475-491.
    7. Ding, Qian & Huang, Jianbai & Chen, Jinyu, 2023. "Does digital finance matter for corporate green investment? Evidence from heavily polluting industries in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leiter, Andrea M. & Parolini, Arno & Winner, Hannes, 2010. "Environmental Regulation and Investment: Evidence from European Country-Industry Data," Working Papers in Economics 2010-1, University of Salzburg, revised 13 Jan 2010.
    2. Leiter, Andrea M. & Parolini, Arno & Winner, Hannes, 2011. "Environmental regulation and investment: Evidence from European industry data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 759-770, February.
    3. Ben Kheder, Sonia & Zugravu, Natalia, 2012. "Environmental regulation and French firms location abroad: An economic geography model in an international comparative study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 48-61.
    4. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Misato Sato, 2017. "The Impacts of Environmental Regulations on Competitiveness," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 11(2), pages 183-206.
    5. Wilhelm Althammer & Erik Hille, 2016. "Measuring climate policy stringency: a shadow price approach," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 23(4), pages 607-639, August.
    6. Sylwia Bialek & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2021. "Do Stringent Environmental Policies Deter FDI? M&A versus Greenfield," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(3), pages 603-636, November.
    7. Erik Hille, 2018. "Pollution havens: international empirical evidence using a shadow price measure of climate policy stringency," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 1137-1171, May.
    8. Shi, Xinzheng & Xu, Zhufeng, 2018. "Environmental regulation and firm exports: Evidence from the eleventh Five-Year Plan in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 187-200.
    9. Millimet, Daniel L. & Roy, Jayjit, 2011. "Three New Empirical Tests of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis When Environmental Regulation is Endogenous," IZA Discussion Papers 5911, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Arouri, Mohamed El Hedi & Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Rault, Christophe & Sova, Robert & Sova, Anamaria, 2012. "Environmental Regulation and Competitiveness: Evidence from Romania," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 130-139.
    11. José-Antonio Monteiro & Madina Kukenova, 2008. "Does Lax Environmental Regulation Attract FDI When Accounting For "Third-Country" Effects?," IRENE Working Papers 08-01, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    12. Ulrich Wagner & Christopher Timmins, 2009. "Agglomeration Effects in Foreign Direct Investment and the Pollution Haven Hypothesis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 43(2), pages 231-256, June.
    13. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi, 2013. "Public policies for a sustainable energy sector: regulation, diversity and fostering of innovation," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 401-429, April.
    14. Zeng, Dao-Zhi & Zhao, Laixun, 2009. "Pollution havens and industrial agglomeration," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 141-153, September.
    15. Becker, Randy A. & Pasurka, Carl & Shadbegian, Ronald J., 2013. "Do environmental regulations disproportionately affect small businesses? Evidence from the Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures survey," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 523-538.
    16. Yuqing Ge & Yucai Hu & Shenggang Ren, 2020. "Environmental Regulation and Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from China’s Eleventh and Twelfth Five-Year Plans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-18, March.
    17. Millimet, Daniel L., 2013. "Environmental Federalism: A Survey of the Empirical Literature," IZA Discussion Papers 7831, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Jean-Marie Grether & Nicole Andréa Mathys & Jaime de Melo, 2015. "Unravelling the Worldwide Pollution Haven Effect," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Developing Countries in the World Economy, chapter 23, pages 581-612, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    19. Becker, Randy A. & Pasurka, Carl & Shadbegian, Ronald J., 2013. "Do environmental regulations disproportionately affect small businesses? Evidence from the Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures survey," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 523-538.
    20. Somlanare Romuald KINDA & Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Jean-Louis COMBES, 2014. "Do Environmental Policies Hurt Trade Performance?," Working Papers 201404, CERDI.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Investment; environmental regulation; pollution abatement costs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inn:wpaper:2009-04. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Janette Walde (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fuibkat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.