IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v147y2021ics0305750x21002187.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fish or steel? New evidence on the environment-economy trade-off in developing Vietnam

Author

Listed:
  • Nguyen, Quynh
  • Malesky, Edmund

Abstract

Trade and investment have contributed to the improvement of living standards in developing countries, but have also put severe pressure on natural environments. How do citizens in low-income countries manage this trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection? Using a discrete choice experiment conducted as part of three large, face-to-face nationally representative surveys of Vetnamese citizens (N=>12,500 respondents per wave), we find that prospective economic benefits increase public support for investment projects, whereas potential environmental harm resulting from investment decreases the public appetite for them. When economic and environmental factors are considered jointly, our results point to the existence of an environmental risk threshold. Environmental costs beyond that threshold lead citizens to reject investment projects, even when they generate considerable economic benefits. Our results challenge the theory that individuals in low-income countries prioritize development over environmental protection, and have implications for political leaders in designing their countries’ future investment policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Nguyen, Quynh & Malesky, Edmund, 2021. "Fish or steel? New evidence on the environment-economy trade-off in developing Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:147:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x21002187
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105603
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X21002187
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105603?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael J. White & Lori M. Hunter, 2009. "Public Perception of Environmental Issues in a Developing Setting: Environmental Concern in Coastal Ghana," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(4), pages 960-982, December.
    2. Rho, Sungmin & Tomz, Michael, 2017. "Why Don't Trade Preferences Reflect Economic Self-Interest?," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 71(S1), pages 85-108, April.
    3. Meng Yan & Zhen An, 2017. "Foreign Direct Investment and Environmental Pollution: New Evidence from China," Econometrics Letters, Bilimsel Mektuplar Organizasyonu (Scientific letters), vol. 4(1), pages 1-17.
    4. Mayda, Anna Maria & Rodrik, Dani, 2005. "Why are some people (and countries) more protectionist than others?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 1393-1430, August.
    5. Dani Rodrik, 2016. "Premature deindustrialization," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-33, March.
    6. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    7. Feng Hao, 2016. "A Panel Regression Study on Multiple Predictors of Environmental Concern for 82 Countries Across Seven Years," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 97(5), pages 991-1004, November.
    8. Susmita Dasgupta & Benoit Laplante & Hua Wang & David Wheeler, 2002. "Confronting the Environmental Kuznets Curve," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 147-168, Winter.
    9. Li, Xiaojun & Zeng, Ka, 2017. "Individual Preferences for FDI in Developing Countries: Experimental Evidence from China," Journal of Experimental Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 195-205, December.
    10. Geoff Brumfiel, 2002. "Developing nations take initiative on greenhouse gases," Nature, Nature, vol. 419(6910), pages 869-869, October.
    11. Hainmueller, Jens & Hopkins, Daniel J. & Yamamoto, Teppei, 2014. "Causal Inference in Conjoint Analysis: Understanding Multidimensional Choices via Stated Preference Experiments," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 1-30, January.
    12. Michaël Aklin, 2016. "Re-exploring the Trade and Environment Nexus Through the Diffusion of Pollution," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 64(4), pages 663-682, August.
    13. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Thomas Bernauer & Quynh Nguyen, 2015. "Free Trade and/or Environmental Protection?," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(4), pages 105-129, November.
    15. Matthew E. Kahn & Matthew J. Kotchen, 2011. "Business Cycle Effects On Concern About Climate Change: The Chilling Effect Of Recession," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(03), pages 257-273.
    16. Pandya, Sonal S., 2010. "Labor Markets and the Demand for Foreign Direct Investment," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(3), pages 389-409, July.
    17. Scheve, Kenneth F. & Slaughter, Matthew J., 2001. "What determines individual trade-policy preferences?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 267-292, August.
    18. Patrick J. Egan & Megan Mullin, 2016. "Recent improvement and projected worsening of weather in the United States," Nature, Nature, vol. 532(7599), pages 357-360, April.
    19. Kachi, Aya & Bernauer, Thomas & Gampfer, Robert, 2015. "Climate policy in hard times: Are the pessimists right?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 227-241.
    20. Horiuchi, Yusaku & Smith, Daniel M. & Yamamoto, Teppei, 2018. "Measuring Voters’ Multidimensional Policy Preferences with Conjoint Analysis: Application to Japan’s 2014 Election," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(2), pages 190-209, April.
    21. 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.
    22. Michael Bechtel & Thomas Bernauer & Reto Meyer, 2012. "The green side of protectionism: Environmental concerns and three facets of trade policy preferences," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(5), pages 837-866.
    23. Pieter Pauw & Kennedy Mbeva & Harro Asselt, 2019. "Subtle differentiation of countries’ responsibilities under the Paris Agreement," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.
    24. Nicholas Stern, 2008. "The Economics of Climate Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 1-37, May.
    25. Pinto,Pablo M., 2013. "Partisan Investment in the Global Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107617360, November.
    26. Pinto,Pablo M., 2013. "Partisan Investment in the Global Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107019102, November.
    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. Jia, Zhijie & Liu, Yu & Lin, Boqiang, 2024. "The impossible triangle of carbon mitigation policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 189(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. 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.
    2. Lukas Linsi, 2022. "Economic Narratives and the Legitimacy of Foreign Direct Investments," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(3), pages 98-109.
    3. Nils D Steiner, 2018. "Attitudes towards the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in the European Union: The treaty partner heuristic and issue attention," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(2), pages 255-277, June.
    4. Rodríguez Chatruc, Marisol & Stein, Ernesto & Vlaicu, Razvan, 2021. "How issue framing shapes trade attitudes: Evidence from a multi-country survey experiment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    5. Bernauer, Thomas & Nguyen, Quynh, 2015. "Environmental Concerns and Individual Trade Policy Preferences in Developing Countries," Papers 837, World Trade Institute.
    6. Sebri, Maamar, 2009. "La Zone Méditerranéenne Face à la Pollution de L’air : Une Investigation Econométrique [The Mediterranean Zone in front of Air pollution: an Econometric Investigation]," MPRA Paper 32382, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2017. "Trade and Environmental Quality in African Countries: Do Institutions Matter?," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 43(1), pages 155-172, January.
    8. Torres-Brito, David Israel & Cruz-Aké, Salvador & Venegas-Martínez, Francisco, 2023. "Impacto de los contaminantes por gases de efecto invernadero en el crecimiento económico en 86 países (1990-2019): Sobre la curva inversa de Kuznets [Impact of the Effect of Greenhouse Gas Pollutan," MPRA Paper 119031, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Valeria Costantini & Chiara Martini, 2010. "A Modified Environmental Kuznets Curve for sustainable development assessment using panel data," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(1/2), pages 84-122.
    10. Sabuj Kumar Mandal & Devleena Chakravarty, 2017. "Role of energy in estimating turning point of Environmental Kuznets Curve: an econometric analysis of the existing studies," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 19(2), pages 387-401, October.
    11. Stern, David I., 2014. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Primer," Working Papers 249424, Australian National University, Centre for Climate Economics & Policy.
    12. Linda Kleemann & Awudu Abdulai, 2013. "The Impact Of Trade And Economic Growth On The Environment: Revisiting The Cross‐Country Evidence," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(2), pages 180-205, March.
    13. Priscilla Massa-Sánchez & Luis Quintana-Romero & Ronny Correa-Quezada & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama, 2020. "Empirical Evidence in Ecuador between Economic Growth and Environmental Deterioration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, January.
    14. Hao, Yu & Zhang, Zong-Yong & Liao, Hua & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2015. "China’s farewell to coal: A forecast of coal consumption through 2020," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 444-455.
    15. Fouquet, Roger, 2011. "Long run trends in energy-related external costs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2380-2389.
    16. Savona, Maria & Ciarli, Tommaso, 2019. "Structural Changes and Sustainability. A Selected Review of the Empirical Evidence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 244-260.
    17. Cevat G. Aksoy & Sergei Guriev & Daniel S. Treisman, 2018. "Globalization, Government Popularity, and the Great Skill Divide," NBER Working Papers 25062, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Dong-Hyeon Kim & Shu-Chin Lin, 2022. "Trade Openness and Environmental Policy Stringency: Quantile Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-15, March.
    19. Aslanidis, Nektarios, 2009. "Environmental Kuznets Curves for Carbon Emissions: A Critical Survey," Working Papers 2072/15847, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    20. Aklin, Michaël & Bayer, Patrick & Harish, S.P. & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2013. "Understanding environmental policy preferences: New evidence from Brazil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 28-36.

    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:eee:wdevel:v:147:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x21002187. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.