IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v43y2022i4p27-44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Distinguishing the Complex Effects of Foreign Direct Investment on Environmental Pollution: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Jianxun Chen
  • Hui Tan
  • Yingran Ma

Abstract

We attempt to investigate how and when foreign direct investment (FDI) impacts different types of environmental pollution in host countries. Using provincial data from China between 1995 and 2015, we find that FDI mitigates air pollution, yet it has insignificant effect on water and solid pollution. We further reveal that it is the combination of the technology, scale and structure effects that jointly determines the impact of FDI on environmental pollution. Among them, the technology effect takes the most dominant role, followed by the scale effect and structure effect. In addition, by considering the time effect on environmental policy change, we suggest that the pollution halo effect mainly occurs after air pollution policy revision.Our findings provide insight on the complex mechanisms and theoretical boundary of FDI on different types of environmental pollutants.

Suggested Citation

  • Jianxun Chen & Hui Tan & Yingran Ma, 2022. "Distinguishing the Complex Effects of Foreign Direct Investment on Environmental Pollution: Evidence from China," The Energy Journal, , vol. 43(4), pages 27-44, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:43:y:2022:i:4:p:27-44
    DOI: 10.5547/01956574.43.4.jche
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/01956574.43.4.jche
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/01956574.43.4.jche?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. Jitao Tang, 2015. "Testing the Pollution Haven Effect: Does the Type of FDI Matter?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 60(4), pages 549-578, April.
    2. He, Jie, 2006. "Pollution haven hypothesis and environmental impacts of foreign direct investment: The case of industrial emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in Chinese provinces," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 228-245, November.
    3. 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..
    4. Lutao Ning & Fan Wang, 2018. "Does FDI Bring Environmental Knowledge Spillovers to Developing Countries? The Role of the Local Industrial Structure," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 71(2), pages 381-405, October.
    5. Hübler, Michael & Keller, Andreas, 2010. "Energy savings via FDI? Empirical evidence from developing countries," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 59-80, February.
    6. Olney, William W., 2013. "A race to the bottom? Employment protection and foreign direct investment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 191-203.
    7. Valerie J. Karplus & Xiliang Zhang, 2017. "Incentivizing firm compliance with Chinas national emissions trading system," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    8. Natalia Zugravu-Soilita, 2017. "How does Foreign Direct Investment Affect Pollution? Toward a Better Understanding of the Direct and Conditional Effects," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 66(2), pages 293-338, February.
    9. Antoci, Angelo & Borghesi, Simone & Russu, Paolo & Ticci, Elisa, 2015. "Foreign direct investments, environmental externalities and capital segmentation in a rural economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 341-353.
    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. Imad Moosa, 2019. "The Environmental Effects of FDI: Evidence from MENA Countries," Working Papers 1321, Economic Research Forum, revised 21 Aug 2019.
    2. Bu, Maoliang & Li, Shuang & Jiang, Lei, 2019. "Foreign direct investment and energy intensity in China: Firm-level evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 366-376.
    3. Yingqi Wei & Sasa Ding & Ziko Konwar, 2022. "The two faces of FDI in environmental performance: a meta-analysis of empirical evidence in China," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 65-94, January.
    4. Jiangfeng Hu & Zhao Wang & Qinghua Huang & Xiaoqin Zhang, 2019. "Environmental Regulation Intensity, Foreign Direct Investment, and Green Technology Spillover—An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Natalia Zugravu-Soilita, 2017. "Trade in Environmental Goods: Empirical Exploration of Direct and Indirect Effects on Pollution by Country’s Trade Status," Working Papers 2017.56, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    6. Natalia Zugravu-Soilita, 2017. "How does Foreign Direct Investment Affect Pollution? Toward a Better Understanding of the Direct and Conditional Effects," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 66(2), pages 293-338, February.
    7. Castellani, Davide & Marin, Giovanni & Montresor, Sandro & Zanfei, Antonello, 2022. "Greenfield foreign direct investments and regional environmental technologies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    8. Wang, Hao & Luo, Qi, 2022. "Can a colonial legacy explain the pollution haven hypothesis? A city-level panel analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 482-495.
    9. Rongping Chang & Bei Wang & Yan Zhang & Lingxue Zhao, 2022. "Foreign Direct Investment and Air Pollution: Re-Estimating the “Pollution Haven Hypothesis” in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, October.
    10. Hao, Yu & Guo, Yunxia & Guo, Yitong & Wu, Haitao & Ren, Siyu, 2020. "Does outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) affect the home country’s environmental quality? The case of China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 109-119.
    11. Antoci, Angelo & Galdi, Giulio & Russu, Paolo, 2022. "Environmental degradation and comparative advantage reversal," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    12. Yuping Deng & Helian Xu, 2015. "International Direct Investment and Transboundary Pollution: An Empirical Analysis of Complex Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-25, April.
    13. Simone Borghesi & Giorgia Giovannetti & Gianluca Iannucci & Paolo Russu, 2019. "The Dynamics of Foreign Direct Investments in Land and Pollution Accumulation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 72(1), pages 135-154, January.
    14. Qian Wang & Zhuoya Du & Boyu Wang & Yung‐ho Chiu & Tzu‐Han Chang, 2022. "Environmental regulation and foreign direct investment attractiveness: Evidence from China provinces," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 899-917, May.
    15. Davide Castellani & Giovanni Marin & Sandro Montresor & Antonello Zanfei, 2020. "Foreign Direct Investments and Regional Specialization in Environmental Technologies," SEEDS Working Papers 0620, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Apr 2020.
    16. Sapkota, Pratikshya & Bastola, Umesh, 2017. "Foreign direct investment, income, and environmental pollution in developing countries: Panel data analysis of Latin America," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 206-212.
    17. Hille, Erik & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Moosa, Imad, 2019. "The impact of FDI on regional air pollution in the Republic of Korea: A way ahead to achieve the green growth strategy?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 308-326.
    18. Saussay, Aurélien & Zugravu-Soilita, Natalia, 2023. "International production chains and the pollution offshoring hypothesis: An empirical investigation," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    19. Di Ubaldo, Mattia & Gasiorek, Michael, 2022. "Non-trade provisions in trade agreements and FDI," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    20. Xiaoping He & Xin Yao, 2017. "Foreign Direct Investments and the Environmental Kuznets Curve: New Evidence from Chinese Provinces," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(1), pages 12-25, January.

    More about this item

    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:sae:enejou:v:43:y:2022:i:4:p:27-44. 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.