Soft and hard aspects of green behaviour: A firm-level study of the pollution haven hypothesis in the Mediterranean Basin

Abstract

The paper tests the pollution haven hypothesis in the context of three economies on the borders of the European Union in the Mediterranean Basin: Greece, Italy, and Turkey. Large differences in soft and hard aspects of green behaviour are revealed. Multinational firms are found to be more likely to use ‘soft talk’ strategies across the three economies. Yet the research also reveals that the multinationals are often more energy-intensive. Data for electricity consumption (where the largest regulatory differences exist across the EU border) show that there is a difference in the energy intensity of foreign and domestic firms in Turkey. At prices 45% lower than the unweighted EU average, the paper documents a 114% difference in electricity consumption by ownership. This difference in the difference between foreign and domestic firms' green behaviour across the three economies studied provides strong validation for the pollution haven hypothesis.

An Empirical Investigation between FDI, Tourism, and Trade on CO2 Emission in Asia: Testing Environmental Kuznet Curve and Pollution Haven Hypothesis

“…This proves that the EKC hypothesis is invalid in Lower-Middle Income in Asia. This finding is in line with the research conducted by the (Chang et al, 2018;Jensen, 2021;Muhammad et al, 2020;Taguchi, 2013) in the lower income countries.…”

“…However, there are two opposing arguments regarding the relationship between FDI and environmental. Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) confirms that different environmental regulations among countries influence the location of the company's location or industry, while Halo Hypothesis pollution focuses on the environmental performance of foreign companies compared to domestic partners rather than industrial locations (Balsalobre-Lorente et al, 2019;Danish et al, 2021;Dauda et al, 2021;Gyamfi et al, 2021;Jensen, 2021;Li et al, 2022;Liu et al, 2019). This argument indicates that the inflow of FDI by multinational companies tends to improve environmental standards in developing countries, bringing cleaner technology and a better environmental management system (Seker et al, 2015).…”

Are Environmental Sustainability Practices Different in Host Country and Country of Origin? The Case of Ford Automotive

“…Kirlilik Sığınağı Hipotezi alan yazınında; gelişmişlik düzeyleri düşük, orta ve yüksek olarak ayrıştırılan 99 ülkenin ekonomik büyüme düzeyleri ve enerji tüketim verileri incelenerek çevresel tahribatlardaki rolü (Shahbaz vd., 2015); 29 Çin kentinin karbon emisyon verileri ve doğrudan yabancı yatırım ilişkisi (Liu vd., 2019); Türkiye'de 1970-2016 yılları aralığında çevre kalitesi ve yenilenebilir enerji kaynakları doğrultusunda KSH geçerliliği (Bulut vd., 2021); Çin'de nükleer enerji yatırımları ve doğrudan yabancı yatırım ilişkisi çerçevesinde KSH geçerliliği (Danish vd., 2021); Türkiye, İtalya ve Yunanistan'ın ulusal ve uluslararası firmalarının enerji yoğunlukları ve tüketim verileri doğrultusunda KSH geçerliliği (Jensen, 2021); Sahra Altı Afrika ülkeleri (Gyamfi, 2021), BRICS ve MINT ülkeleri (Shao vd., 2019) Pakistan (Nadeem vd., 2020) ve ASEAN-5 ülkelerinde (Güzel ve Okumuş, 2020) KSH geçerliliği; ülkeye göre düşük, orta ve yüksek düzeyde geçerlilik gösteren KSH'nin Kore'deki durumu (Buluş ve Koç, 2021) benzeri çeşitli ülkelerin karbon salınım ve doğrudan yabancı yatırım değerlerini analiz eden çalışmalarla karşılaşılmıştır. Yaygın olarak KSH ile birlikte yürütülen Çevresel Kuznets Eğrisi Hipotezi ise çalışma kapsamında ele alınan çevresel yaklaşımların sonuncusudur.…”