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. 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.
    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. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    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. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Zhang, Jingjing, 2020. "International production fragmentation, trade in intermediate goods and environment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-7.
    8. 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.
    9. Stern, David I., 2014. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Primer," Working Papers 249424, Australian National University, Centre for Climate Economics & Policy.
    10. 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.
    11. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Haouas, Ilham & Hoang, Thi Hong Van, 2019. "Economic growth and environmental degradation in Vietnam: Is the environmental Kuznets curve a complete picture?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 197-218.
    12. Chang, Chun-Ping & Dong, Minyi & Liu, Jiliang, 2019. "Environmental Governance and Environmental Performance," ADBI Working Papers 936, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    13. Per G. Fredriksson & Xenia Matschke, 2016. "Trade Liberalization and Environmental Taxation in Federal Systems," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 118(1), pages 150-167, January.
    14. Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2016. "Investigating the impact of national income on environmental pollution. International evidence," MPRA Paper 74149, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. 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.
    16. Ilker Akar, 2019. "The Pollution Haven Hypothesis and Foreign Trade - A Survey on the Relation with Environment," Economics Literature, WERI-World Economic Research Institute, vol. 1(1), pages 37-50, June.
    17. Azam, Muhammad & Khan, Abdul Qayyum & Zaman, Khalid & Ahmad, Mehboob, 2015. "Factors determining energy consumption: Evidence from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1123-1131.
    18. Rios, Vicente & Gianmoena, Lisa, 2018. "Convergence in CO2 emissions: A spatial economic analysis with cross-country interactions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 222-238.
    19. Tan, Hao & Sun, Aijun & Lau, Henry, 2013. "CO2 embodiment in China–Australia trade: The drivers and implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1212-1220.
    20. Cave, Lisa A. & Blomquist, Glenn C., 2008. "Environmental policy in the European Union: Fostering the development of pollution havens?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 253-261, April.

    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.