Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-rvbq7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-15T13:35:55.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - The Effects of Environmental Costs on Public Support for Foreign Direct Investment

Differences Between the United States and India

from Part III - Bottom-Up: Private Sector and Civil Society Initiatives on the Sustainable Development Goals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

By
Hye-Sung Kim  and
Youngchae Lee
Edited by
Cosimo Beverelli ,
Jürgen Kurtz  and
Damian Raess
Cosimo Beverelli
Affiliation:
World Trade Organization
Jürgen Kurtz
Affiliation:
European University Institute, Florence
Damian Raess
Affiliation:
World Trade Institute, University of Bern
Get access

Summary

Is economic development a prerequisite for concern over environmental issues? The existing literature has yet to reach an empirical consensus on this question. To revisit this important topic, we offer new experimental evidence by conducting online survey experiments in one developed country (the United States) and one developing country (India). We investigate how providing information on the negative environmental costs of foreign direct investment (FDI) affects people’s support of FDI, and how these effects differ between residents of the United States and India. The results of our experiment show that among residents of the United States, being presented with information about the environmental costs of FDI sharply reduces support for FDI, while a substantially weaker effect of the environmental costs of FDI was observed among residents of India. Also, respondents from the United States are more concerned about environmental damage caused by FDI in their own city than in a distant location, while this pattern is not observed among respondents from India. These results are consistent with the claim that economic prosperity and wealth are prerequisites for environmental concern.

Keywords

foreign direct investmentenvironmental costsdeveloped countriesdeveloping countriespublic opinionexperimentsUnited StatesIndia
Type
Chapter
Information
International Trade, Investment, and the Sustainable Development Goals
World Trade Forum
 , pp. 270 - 309
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acharyya, J. (2009). “FDI, Growth and the Environment: Evidence from India on CO2 Emission During the Last Two Decades.” Journal of Economic Development 34: 43–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barry, F. and Bradley, J. (1997). “FDI and Trade: The Irish Host-Country Experience.” The Economic Journal 107: 1798–1811.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ratter, Beate M. W., Philipp, K. H. I. and von Storch, H. (2012). “Between Hype and Decline: Recent Trends in Public Perception of Climate Change.” Environmental Science and Policy 18: 3–8.Google Scholar
Blomstrom, Magnus and Fredrik, Sjöholm. (1999). “Technology Transfer and Spillovers: Does Local Participation with Multinationals Matter?” European Economic Review 43: 915–923.Google Scholar
Bloom, David. (1995). “International Public Opinion on the Environment.” NBER Discussion Paper No. 732.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, , Corey, J. A., Giam, Xingli and Sodhi, Navjot S.. 2010. “Evaluating the Relative Environmental Impact of Countries.” PLoS ONE 5:1–16.Google Scholar
Chen, Ch., Chang, L. and Zhang, Y. (1995). “The Role of Foreign Direct Investment in China’s Post-1978 Economic Development.” World Development 23: 691–703.Google Scholar
deHaven Smith, L. (1988). “Environmental Belief Systems: Public Opinion on Land Use Regulation in Florida.” Environment and Behavior 20: 276–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diekmann, A. and Franzen, A. (1999). “The Wealth of Nations and Environmental Concern.” Environment and Behavior 31: 540–549.Google Scholar
Dunlap, R. E., Gallup, Jr. G. H., and Gallup, A. M. (1993). “Of Global Concern: Results of the Health of the Planet Survey.” Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 35: 7–39.Google Scholar
Dunlap, R. E. and Mertig, A. G. (1995). “Global Concern for the Environment: Is Affluence a Prerequisite?” Journal of Social Issues 51: 121–137.Google Scholar
Dunlap, R. E. and York, R. (2008). “The Globalization of Environmental Concern and the Limits of the Postmaterialist Values Explanation: Evidence from Four Multinational Surveys.” The Sociological Quarterly 49: 529–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franzen, A. (2003). “Environmental Attitudes in International Comparison: An Analysis of the ISSP Surveys 1993 and 2000.” Social Science Quarterly 84: 297–308.Google Scholar
Franzen, A. and Meyer, R. (2010). “Environmental Attitudes in Cross-National Perspective: A Multilevel Analysis of the ISSP 1993 and 2000.” European Sociological Review 26: 219–234.Google Scholar
Furnham, A. (1986). “Response Bias, Social Desirability and Dissimulation.” Personality and Individual Differences 7: 385–400.Google Scholar
Gaines, B. J., Kuklinski, J. H. and Quirk, P. J. (2007). “The Logic of the Survey Experiment Reexamined.” Political Analysis 15: 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimes, P. and Kentor, J. (2003). “Exporting the Greenhouse: Foreign Capital Penetration and CO2 Emissions 1980–1996.” Journal of World-Systems Research 9: 261–275.Google Scholar
Huang, C., Liao, H. and Chang, S.-H. (1998). “Social Desirability and the Clinical Self-Report Inventory: Methodological Reconsideration.” Journal of Clinical Psychology 54: 517–528.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. (1995). “Public Support for Environmental Protection.” Political Science and Politics 28: 57–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irfan, U. (2018). “Why India’s Air Pollution Is So Horrendous.” Available at www.vox.com/2018/5/8/17316978/india-pollution-levels-air-delhi-health.Google Scholar
Jamal, A. and Milner, H. V. (2019). “Economic Self-Interest, Information, and Trade Policy Preferences: Evidence from an Experiment in Tunisia.” Review of International Political Economy 26: 545–572.Google Scholar
Jiang, Y. (2015). “Foreign Direct Investment, Pollution, and the Environmental Quality: A Model with Empirical Evidence from the Chinese Regions.” The International Trade Journal 29: 212–227.Google Scholar
Kalton, G. and Schuman, H. (1982). “The Effect of the Question on Survey Responses: A Review.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (General) 145: 42–73.Google Scholar
Kim, S. Y. and Wolinsky-Nahmias, Y. (2014). “Cross-National Public Opinion on Climate Change: The Effects of Affluence and Vulnerability.” Global Environmental Politics 14: 79–106.Google Scholar
King, M. F. and Bruner, G. C. (2000). “Social Desirability Bias: A Neglected Aspect of Validity Testing.” Psychology and Marketing 17: 79–103.3.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingston, K. G. (2011). “The Dilemma of Minerals Dependent Economy: The Case of Foreign Direct Investment and Pollution in Nigeria.” African Journal of Social Sciences 1: 1–14.Google Scholar
Kull, Steven. 2007. “International Polling on Climate Change.” Available at WorldPublicOpinion.org.Google Scholar
Kvaløy, B., Finseraas, H. and Listhaug, O. (2012). “The Publics’ Concern for Global Warming: A Cross-National Study of 47 Countries.” Journal of Peace Research 49: 11–22.Google Scholar
Lasorsa, D. L. (2003). “Question-Order Effects in Surveys: The Case of Political Interest, News Attention, and Knowledge.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 80: 499–512.Google Scholar
Leiserowitz, A. (2007). “International Public Opinion, Perception, and Understanding of Global Climate Change.” United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report 2007/2008.Google Scholar
Li, X. and Liu, X. (2005). “Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth: An Increasingly Endogenous Relationship.” World Development 33: 393–407.Google Scholar
Lleras, G. R. and Cabrera Leal, M. (2017). “Colombia and China: Social and Environmental Impacts of Trade and Foreign Direct Investment.” In Ray, R, Gallagher, K, Lopez, A, and Sanborn, C (eds.), China and Sustainable Development in Latin America: The Social and Environmental Dimension. Anthem Press.Google Scholar
Macnaghten, P. (2003). “Embodying the Environment in Everyday Life Practices.” The Sociological Review 51: 63–84.Google Scholar
Mansfield, E. D. and Mutz, D. C. (2009). “Support for Free Trade: Self-Interest, Sociotropic Politics, and Out-Group Anxiety.” International Organization 63: 425–457.Google Scholar
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (1999). Foreign Direct Investment and the Environment. OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
Parry, H. J. and Crossley, H. M. (1950). “Validity of Responses to Survey Questions.” Public Opinion Quarterly 14: 61–80.Google Scholar
Rho, S. and Tomz, M. (2017). “Why Don’t Trade Preferences Reflect Economic Self-Interest?” International Organization 71: S85–S108.Google Scholar
Sandvik, H. (2008). “Public Concern Over Global Warming Correlates Negatively with National Wealth.” Climatic Change 90: 333–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuman, H. and Presser, S. (1996). Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys: Experiments on Question Form, Wording, and Context. Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Siggins, L. (2017). “Corrib Gas Timeline: 20 Years of Protests and Controversy.” The Irish Times, July 13, 2017. Available at www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/corrib-gas-timeline-20-years-of-protests.Google Scholar
Spance, A. and Pidgeon, N. (2010). “Framing and Communicating Climate Change: The Effects of Distance and Outcome Frame Manipulations.” Global Environmental Change 20: 656–667.Google Scholar
Strack, F. (1992). “Order Effects” in Survey Research: Activation and Information Functions of Preceding Questions. Springer.Google Scholar
Tourangeau, R. and Yan, T. (2007). “Sensitive Questions in Surveys.” Psychological Bulletin 133: 859–883.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van de Mortel, T. F. (2008). “Faking It: Social Desirability Response Bias in Self-Report Research.” Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing 25: 40–48.Google Scholar
Waldkirch, A., Nunnenkamp, P. and Alatorre Bremont, J. E. (2009). “Employment Effects of FDI in Mexico’s Non-Maquiladora Manufacturing.” The Journal of Development Studies 45: 1165–1183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×