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This paper tests the pollution-haven hypothesis. A fixed-effects variation of the gravity model is applied to panel data to investigate what relationship, if any, exists between environmental regulations and FDI. The data set focuses on bilateral flows of aggregated foreign direct investment between 26 OECD countries from 1982 to 1997. Use of pollution emissions as a proxy for environmental stringency shows evidence in support of the pollution-haven hypothesis. In other words, firms do seek out countries with weaker environmental regulations for production. In addition, FDI appears to fall with distance. Contrary to expectations, FDI is not influenced by interest rates, wages or GDP.

The aim of this paper is to explore two apparently unrelated issues – regional trade agreements and the pollution-haven hypothesis. They are linked by the belief that the elimination of trade barriers will further encourage firms already considering a move to countries with weak environmental regulations. Given the proliferation of trade agreements, as well as the movement of environmental issues to the forefront of our political process, a better understanding of the policy effects is needed. We apply a test equation loosely based on the gravity model to a data set of industry-level foreign direct investment from the Unites States to 23 partner countries from 1982 to 1999. Using pollution emissions as a proxy for environmental stringency, we find strong evidence in support of the pollution-haven hypothesis. We also find the NAFTA increase outflows of U.S. FDI. Finally, the NAFTA appears to encourage the pollution-haven effect.

This study tests whether foreign direct investment (FDI) and migration are substitutes or complements using data on bilateral FDI flows from countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and bilateral immigration to OECD countries over the period 1996 to 2006. Our most conservative estimates, using dynamic panel methods, suggest that a $1 million increase in FDI to another OECD country increases immigration by about 60 migrants, while the same increase to non-OECD locations increases migration by about 1,000. These findings support a core-periphery model of globalization and development.

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