IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v30y2012i2p362-380.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Air Pollution and Business Political Influence in Fifteen OECD Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick Bernhagen

    (Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Aberdeen, Edward Wright Building, Dunbar Street, Aberdeen AB24 3QR, Scotland)

Abstract

In this paper I examine the political influence of business in the context of environmental politics by comparing the explanatory role of three distinct sources of business power: political organization, a structurally privileged position in politics, and informational advantages. Using data on fifteen OECD countries between 1981 and 1999, the analysis shows that business organizational strength and information asymmetry in government–business relations are important determinants of observed differences in air pollution across countries and over time. By contrast, there is no support for the claim that the structural dominance of business constrains political efforts to improve air quality. By analyzing the role of asymmetric information and systems of interest intermediation simultaneously, the paper contributes to our understanding of the causal mechanisms that link corporatism to environmental performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Bernhagen, 2012. "Air Pollution and Business Political Influence in Fifteen OECD Countries," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(2), pages 362-380, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:30:y:2012:i:2:p:362-380
    DOI: 10.1068/c11179b
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c11179b
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/c11179b?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Werner Antweiler & Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2001. "Is Free Trade Good for the Environment?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 877-908, September.
    2. Murphy, Dale D., 2004. "The Structure of Regulatory Competition: Corporations and Public Policies in a Global Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199267514.
    3. Cole, Matthew A., 2004. "Trade, the pollution haven hypothesis and the environmental Kuznets curve: examining the linkages," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 71-81, January.
    4. Neumayer, Eric, 2003. "Are left-wing party strength and corporatism good for the environment? Evidence from panel analysis of air pollution in OECD countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 203-220, June.
    5. Lopez, Ramon, 2003. "The Policy Roots of Socioeconomic Stagnation and Environmental Implosion: Latin America 1950-2000," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 259-280, February.
    6. Bischoff, Ivo, 2003. "Determinants of the Increase in the Number of Interest Groups in Western Democracies: Theoretical Considerations and Evidence from 21 OECD Countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 114(1-2), pages 197-218, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Martin Gassebner & Michael Lamla & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2006. "Economic, demographic and political determinants of pollution reassessed," KOF Working papers 06-129, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    2. Lamla, Michael J., 2009. "Long-run determinants of pollution: A robustness analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 135-144, November.
    3. Gani, Azmat & Scrimgeour, Frank, 2014. "Modeling governance and water pollution using the institutional ecological economic framework," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 363-372.
    4. Utpal Kumar De, 2014. "Globalisation and cointegration among the states and convergence across the continents: A panel data analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 107-121.
    5. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Nasreen, Samia & Ahmed, Khalid & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2017. "Trade openness–carbon emissions nexus: The importance of turning points of trade openness for country panels," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 221-232.
    6. Canfei He & Fenghua Pan & Yan Yan, 2012. "Is Economic Transition Harmful to China’s Urban Environment? Evidence from Industrial Air Pollution in Chinese Cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(8), pages 1767-1790, June.
    7. Farhani, Sahbi & Mrizak, Sana & Chaibi, Anissa & Rault, Christophe, 2014. "The environmental Kuznets curve and sustainability: A panel data analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 189-198.
    8. David I. Stern, 2017. "The environmental Kuznets curve after 25 years," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 7-28, April.
    9. Schiff, Maurice, 2021. "Low, High and Super Congestion of a Renewable Natural Resource under Autarky and Trade," IZA Discussion Papers 14279, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Octavio Fernández-Amador & Joseph F. Francois & Doris A. Oberdabernig & Patrick Tomberger, 2020. "Economic growth, sectoral structures, and environmental methane footprints," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(13), pages 1460-1475, March.
    11. Shu Kedong & Lu Yueyu & Yu Ziyan & Kuai Peng & Zhang Shu’an, 2021. "Influences of environmental regulations on skill premium: mediating effect of industrial structure optimization," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(2), pages 245-273, April.
    12. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Nasreen, Samia & Abbas, Faisal & Anis, Omri, 2015. "Does foreign direct investment impede environmental quality in high-, middle-, and low-income countries?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 275-287.
    13. Kolcava, Dennis & Nguyen, Quynh & Bernauer, Thomas, 2019. "Does trade liberalization lead to environmental burden shifting in the global economy?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 98-112.
    14. Zhang, Jingjing, 2020. "International production fragmentation, trade in intermediate goods and environment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-7.
    15. Indra de Soysa & Jennifer Bailey & Eric Neumayer, 2004. "Free to Squander? Democracy, Institutional Design, and Economic Sustainability, 1975–2000," Macroeconomics 0412004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Helen Tammela Naughton, 2010. "Globalization and Emissions in Europe," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 7(2), pages 503-519, December.
    17. Aller, Carlos & Ductor, Lorenzo & Herrerias, M.J., 2015. "The world trade network and the environment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PA), pages 55-68.
    18. Le Hoang Phong & Dang Thi Bach Van & Ho Hoang Gia Bao, 2018. "The Role of Globalization on CO2 Emission in Vietnam Incorporating Industrialization, Urbanization, GDP per Capita and Energy Use," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(6), pages 275-283.
    19. Stern, David I., 2014. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Primer," Working Papers 249424, Australian National University, Centre for Climate Economics & Policy.
    20. Ren, Shenggang & Yuan, Baolong & Ma, Xie & Chen, Xiaohong, 2014. "The impact of international trade on China׳s industrial carbon emissions since its entry into WTO," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 624-634.

    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:sae:envirc:v:30:y:2012:i:2:p:362-380. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.