Do Foreign-Owned Plants Pollute More?: New Evidence from the U.S. EPA Toxics Release Inventory

Abstract

Critics of globalization and capitalist expansion suggest that foreign-owned plants pollute more than domestically owned ones. Using the U.S. EPA Toxics Release Inventory, we test the effects of foreign ownership on the environmental performance of chemical plants in the United States. Results suggest that net of other factors, foreign ownership has a negligible impact on the environmental performance of chemical plants. Implications for research on the organizational determinants of environmental degradation are discussed.

Keywords:

• globalization
• pollution
• Toxics Release Inventory

This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Notes

Note. CB, U.S. Census Bureau; D + , Dun and Bradstreet; GI, 1990/1991 Green Index; TRI, Toxics Release Inventory.

^a Weighted by toxicity.

^a Locally owned plants are single-location businesses, and therefore their firm and plant sizes are the same.

Note. Log emission rate = log (emission rate × 1000).

^a Unstandardized regression coefficient.

^b Standard error.

^c Significant at p < .10, one-tailed test.

^d Significant at p < .05, one-tailed test.

^e Significant at p < .01, one-tailed test.

^f Significant at p < .05, two-tailed test.