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

本文研究了环境规制对国际型企业和国内型企业的边际成本是否不同。两个解释模型对全球化与环境监管之间的关系产生了相互竞争的期望。 一个假设两者之间存在积极的关系，另一个则提供了一个负面的“逐底竞争”预测。“这些模型的假设是使用跨行业、跨国研究设计进行测试的，以确定一个行业的国际经济联系与该行业监管严格程度的关系。该项目还探讨了比较制度因素的作用，包括分裂的政府和党的纪律，在塑造激励政治家追求环境保护的公共利益或庇护特定利益集团从环境监管的负担数据将收集从9个行业在4个拉丁美洲国家，以及对这些国家的环境决策机构。这项研究将有助于全球化和国内监管的辩论，通过提供经验数据的环境监管严格的行业，并通过系统地测试经济国际化和监管力度之间的关系。更广泛地说，这一项目不仅可以为发展中国家的环境标准研究提供信息，而且还可以为其他社会规章和经济政策研究提供信息。

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.