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Pollution Haven or Hythe? New Evidence from Mexico

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Author Info
Andreas Waldkirch (Oregon State University)
Munisamy Gopinath (Oregon State University)

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Abstract

Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into developing countries have been increasing dramatically over the past decade. At the same time, there has been widespread concern that lax environmental standards are in part responsible for this surge. This paper revisits the pollution haven hypothesis by examining to what extent the pollution intensity of production helps explain FDI in Mexico. By focusing on pollution intensities, which are directly related to emission regulations, we avoid the problem of unobservable pollution taxes and allow for substitution between capital and pollution. Examining several different pollutants, we find a positive correlation between FDI and pollution that is both statistically and economically significant in the case of the highly regulated sulfur dioxide emissions. Industries for which the estimated relationship between FDI and pollution is positive receive as much as 40 percent of total FDI and account for as much as 30 percent of manufacturing output. Although our results suggest that environmental considerations matter for firms' location decisions, FDI locates in Mexico also in accordance with its comparative advantage in labor- intensive production processes, consistent with the previous literature.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by EconWPA in its series International Trade with number 0412005.

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Length: 34 pages
Date of creation: 07 Dec 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpit:0412005

Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 34. pdf-file, 34 pages
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Web page: http://129.3.20.41

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Related research
Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Pollution Haven; Mexico;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
Q38 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy (includes OPEC Policy)

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References listed on IDEAS
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    Other versions:
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  17. repec:att:wimass:1920310 is not listed on IDEAS
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Legge, Thomas & Scott, Susan, 2009. "Policy Options to Reduce Ireland's GHG Emissions [Instrument choice: the pros and cons of alternative policy instruments]," Papers WP284, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). [Downloadable!]
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