High-income developing countries as pollution havens: Can financial development and environmental regulations make a difference?

Abstract

The argument that foreign direct investments inflows in developing countries harm the environmental quality of these countries is evaluated within the scope of Pollution Haven Hypothesis. However, the Pollution Halo Hypothesis, the counterargument, contends that foreign investment has several positive effects on the environmental circumstances in the host nation. Therefore, firstly the unit root properties of variables and cointegration existence among variables are checked with newly developed panel data techniques that both allows cross-sectional dependence and structural breaks. In addition, using recently established CS-ARDL technique for high-income developing nations (BRICS-T), this research examines the effects of foreign direct investment on the environment as well as whether environmental regulations and financial development have changed the potential haven hypothesis into the halo hypothesis for the period from 1995 to 2020. The pollution haven theory holds true for these nations, according to the results of empirical research. On the other side, it is determined that tighter environmental restrictions support the environmental quality, and the usage of renewable energy also improves environmental quality, even if economic growth harms environmental quality. In addition, it is found that both regulations and financial development has a moderating role on reversing the haven to halo.