Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Environmental Regulation in Latin America: Economic Internationalization and Political Institutions

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This dissertation investigates whether environmental regulation entails different marginal costs for internationally-oriented firms than for domestically-oriented firms. Two explanatory models generate competing expectations about the relationship between globalization and environmental regulation. One posits a positive relationship between the two, and the other offers a negative prediction of a "race to the bottom." Hypotheses from these models are tested using an across-industry, cross-national research design to determine the relation of an industry's international economic ties to the degree of regulatory stringency for that industry. This project also explores the role of comparative institutional factors, including divided government and party discipline, in shaping incentives for politicians to either pursue the public good of environmental protection or shelter particular interest groups from the burden of environmental regulation Data will be collected from nine industries in four Latin American countries, as well as on the environmental policymaking institutions of those states. This research will contribute to the debate about globalization and domestic regulation by providing empirical data on environmental regulatory stringency across industries and by systematically testing the relationship between economic internationalization and regulatory strength. More broadly, this project may inform the study not only of environmental standards in developing countries, but of other social regulation and economic policies as well.