An approach to the pollution haven and pollution halo hypotheses in MINT countries.

This study examines the nonlinear relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and the ecological footprint (EF), trying to confirm the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH). We use a panel data model for MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey) countries in the period 1990-2013 and an empirical framework based on the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH). Using the fully modified least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) econometric methodologies, the empirical results confirm an inverted-U relationship between FDI and the ecological footprint. To reinforce our analysis, we check the connection between economic growth and the ecological footprint, validating the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for MINT countries. Finally, we also confirm a negative connection between renewable energy use, the urbanization process, and the changes in the ecological footprint. These findings offer a series of useful recommendations for policymakers, where the promotion of clean industries and energy-efficiency actions are essential for reducing environmental damage in MINT countries. We highlight the viability of the ecological footprint as a first-order environmental indicator whose evolution is determined by demographic fluctuations.

Revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve and pollution haven hypotheses: MIKTA sample.

This study aims to examine the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and pollution haven hypotheses in Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey, and Australia (MIKTA) countries from 1982 to 2011 by using a panel vector auto regressive (PVAR) model. Empirical findings imply that the EKC hypothesis is rejected by the MIKTA sample. However, PVAR estimations reveal Granger causality from income level, foreign direct investment (FDI) inward, and energy consumption to CO2 emissions. Orthogonalized impulse-response functions are derived from PVAR estimations. According to the analysis results, the response of CO2 emissions to a shock on FDI is positive. These results assert that FDI has a detrimental effect on environmental quality in MIKTA countries which means the pollution haven hypothesis is confirmed by the MIKTA sample. Therefore, MIKTA countries should revise their current economic growth plans to provide sustainable development and also re-organize their legal infrastructure to induce usage of renewable energy sources.

Land-use policies and corporate investments in agriculture in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano.

Growing demand for agricultural commodities is causing the expansion of agricultural frontiers onto native vegetation worldwide. Agribusiness companies linking these frontiers to distant spaces of consumption through global commodity chains increasingly make zero-deforestation pledges. However, production and land conversion are often carried out by less-visible local and regional actors that are mobile and responsive to new agricultural expansion opportunities and legal constraints on land use. With more stringent deforestation regulations in some countries, we ask whether their movements are determined partly by differences in land-use policies, resulting in "deforestation havens." We analyze the determinants of investment decisions by agricultural companies in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano, a region that has become the new deforestation "hot spot" in South America. We test whether companies seek out less-regulated forest areas for new agricultural investments. Based on interviews with 82 companies totaling 2.5 Mha of properties, we show that, in addition to proximity to current investments and the availability of cheap forestland, lower deforestation regulations attract investments by companies that tend to clear more forest, mostly cattle ranching operations, and that lower enforcement attracts all companies. Avoiding deforestation leakage requires harmonizing deforestation regulations across regions and commodities and promoting sustainable intensification in cattle ranching.