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The impact of foreign direct investment on emission reduction targets: Evidence from high- and middle-income countries

ABSTRACT: Highlights • This paper studies the relationship between FDI and carbon emissions.• It considers the innovation, regulation, and efficiency levels of the host countries.• A Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag was applied on 21 countries divided by income level, for a period from 2001 to 2017.• FDI decreases emissions in high-income countries, while increasing them in the short run in middle-income countries, which supports the Pollution Haven Hypothesis.• This paper reveals that regulatory measures seem to be less effective in reducing emissions in high-income countries. Besides bringing countries closer, the effects of globalization can help increase the production of goods and services, and foster economic growth. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is one of the processes of globalization. One aspect of globalization that has piqued the interest of economists, is the transfer of polluting industries between countries. A principal factor in this are discrepancies of environmental regulations, and these have also been instrumental in a failure to control pollution worldwide. With this impasse in mind, a Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag was applied to evaluate the impacts of FDI on the carbon dioxide emissions of 21 countries divided by income level, for a period from 2001 to 2017. This methodology allowed the analysis of the resulting dynamics of pollution into the short-run and long-run. The characteristics of efficiency, innovation, and regulation are crucial to better understand the consequences of flows in FDI. Regulation seems to increase pollution in high-income countries, which merits further discussion. FDI decreases emissions in high-income countries, while increasing them in the short-run in middle-income countries, which supports the Pollution Haven Hypothesis. Nonetheless, the capacity of middle-income countries to absorb technology is crucial for them to benefit in the long-run. Trade openness is also highly influenced by environmental regulation in middle-income countries. Since our aim is to understand the transfer of polluting industries, an analysis of emissions from the industrial sector provided a robustness check. It also revealed that policymakers do not seem to be paying sufficient attention to innovation and controlling the environmental degradation that this sector causes.

SUBMITTER: Marques A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7455519 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Although a proven and effective preventive health measure, childhood immunization programs remain vulnerable to budgetary pressures. Sustainable financing of immunization programs is an important issue that presents a challenge for middle-income countries (MIC) in particular, in part due to technological advances meaning more vaccines are available. This study aimed to analyse trends in immunization program investment across 15 MIC selected based on availability of data, income level classification, and regional representativeness. We assessed investment trends in relation to vaccine coverage, vaccine access, and broader health indicators. Immunization and expenditure data were obtained from the World Health Organisation (WHO) database and the WHO UNICEF Joint Reporting Form and WHO Vaccine Product, Price and Procurement from 2006-2016. We calculated a weighted average index of vaccine commitment (WAIVC) based on vaccine coverage, vaccine scope, and weighted by vaccine innovation measured by approximating vaccine expenditure. Correlation analyses were conducted between immunization expenditure per-capita and each WAIVC, infant mortality and life expectancy. Correlation analyses at a global and individual country level indicate an improvement in immunization access, vaccination commitment measured by WAIVC, and scope of available vaccines in countries with sustained increases in vaccination funding. Increases in national immunization expenditure were correlated with reduced infant mortality and increased life expectancy. Vaccine expenditure comprises a small proportion (less than 2%) of total healthcare spending and has not uniformly increased in accordance with the scope of available vaccines. The present analysis supports the premise that countries with consistent increases in vaccine expenditure have increased vaccine coverage and commitment measured by WAIVC and improved broader health outcomes, indicating the value of sustained investment in vaccination for improved population health. The benefits of vaccine expenditure in this holistic fashion are critical to inform policy decisions on national budget allocation for vaccine funding.

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The impact of foreign direct investment on emission reduction targets: Evidence from high- and middle-income countries

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