No abstract

The present work analyzes the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) and corruption on the quality of the environment in the MENA region. Indeed, the magnitude of corruption and the quality of institutions are often cited as the main factors affecting the FDI inflow. Here, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach was used to examine data on a group of MENA countries from 1990 to 2016. Our findings verify the Environmental Kuznets Curve. Furthermore, the empirical estimates approve the “pollution haven” hypothesis, which postulates that the polluting industrial activities of developed countries shift to developing countries which have less stringent environmental regulations. Based on the study findings, we recommend greater awareness of the harmful effects of corruption among political and economic actors.

This paper investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) and corruption on the environmental pollution in Tunisia over the period 1984-2014 by applying an autoregressive distributed lag model. Our results revealed the existence of Environmental Kuznets Curve in Tunisian case. The pollution haven hypothesis postulates that polluting industrial activity in developed countries is shifting to developing countries with less stringent environmental regulations. This hypothesis has been proved. Hence, this study advises to make more aware to the negative effect of corruption. Overall, to improve environmental quality, the findings suggest that Tunisia should promote energy efficiency with sustainable growth. Therefore, results show that Tunisia should encourage more FDI inflows particularly in technology-intensive and environment-friendly industries.