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Foreign Direct Investment and Environmental Taxes

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  • De Santis, Roberto A.
  • Stähler, Frank

Abstract

This paper discusses environmental policies in response to foreign direct investment (FDI) in a symmetrie two-country setting, where firms' behavior affects government policy decisions. We show that two alternative equilibria with FDI are possible: (i) one with unilateral FDI, where one firm is a multinational firm, and the other firm is a national firm; (ii) and one with bilateral FDI, where both firms become multinational firms. With regard to strategic environmental policies, we show that the country attracting FDI introduces a Pigouvian environmental tax, whereas the country served by the local firm only levies a smaller tax rate. Hence, FDI does not lead to ecological dumping. With regard to welfare, we show that the impact on welfare is negative for the country hosting the national firm; positive for the country hosting the multinational firm, if FDI is unilateral; and ambiguous, for both countries, if FDI is bilateral.

Suggested Citation

  • De Santis, Roberto A. & Stähler, Frank, 2000. "Foreign Direct Investment and Environmental Taxes," Kiel Working Papers 1013, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1013
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    Cited by:

    1. Savoiu, Gheorghe & Dinu, Vasile & Ciuca, Suzana, 2013. "Foreign Direct Investment based on Country Risk and other Macroconomic Factors. Econometric Models for Romanian Economy," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(1), pages 39-61, March.
    2. Mingquan Li & Qi Wang, 2020. "Does industrial relocation alleviate environmental pollution? A mathematical economics analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 4673-4698, June.
    3. Baomin Dong & Jiong Gong & Xin Zhao, 2012. "FDI and environmental regulation: pollution haven or a race to the top?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 216-237, April.
    4. Scott McCracken, 2015. "The choice of commodity tax base in the presence of horizontal foreign direct investment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(5), pages 811-833, October.
    5. Shuichi Ohori, 2011. "Environmental policy instruments and foreign ownership," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 13(1), pages 65-78, January.
    6. Yan, Yan & Li, Yi, 2023. "Technology spillovers, strategic environmental policy, and foreign direct investment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    7. Takeshi Iida & Arijit Mukherjee, 2020. "Make and buy in a polluting industry," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(6), pages 1852-1874, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign direct investment; environmental taxes; multinational enterprises; plant location;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • Q20 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - General
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F18 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Environment

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