Ecologically unequal exchange, repression, and forest loss: How China's demand for agricultural products impacts the natural environment

Abstract

Drawing on ecologically unequal exchange theory and previous cross-national research on the topic, we assess whether agricultural exports from peripheral nations to China tend to increase forest loss in exporting nations. We extend this theory by considering if repressive nations facilitate ecologically unequal exchange between peripheral nations and China. We argue that this may be the case because repressive nations create a “good business climate” for Chinese firms via economic incentives (e.g., tax holidays), regulatory concessions, labor flexibility, and imposed political stability, that exacerbate the harmful impact of agricultural exports from peripheral nations to China on forests. Using ordinary least squares regression for a sample of 60 peripheral nations, we begin by finding support for our main hypothesis that higher levels of agricultural exports sent from peripheral nations to China are related to increased forest loss in the peripheral nations. We go on to find that ecologically unequal exchanges of agricultural products from peripheral nations to China increase forest loss more at higher rather than lower levels of repression.