[Upcoming Event] The 27th “Theory and Policy” at RUC NADS

Environmental Regulation and Inward Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from the Eleventh Five-Year Plan in China

Speaker： LIN Faqin, Associate Professor at School of International Trade and Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics

Moderator：NIE Huihua, Deputy Dean of National Academy of Development and Strategy, RUC

Time：March 27, 2019 (Wednesday) 14:00-15:30

Venue：Meeting Room 815, Chongde Building West Wing (Keyan Building Block A）

Abstract :

This paper investigates whether environmental regulation affects inward foreign direct investment. The identification uses the reduction target policy for air pollutants during 11th Five Year Plan period implemented by the Chinese government in 2005. Our difference- in-difference-in-differences estimation explores three-dimension variations; specifically, city (i.e., high target prefectures versus low target prefectures), industry (more polluting industries relative to less polluting ones), and year (i.e., before and after 2005).We find that tougher environmental regulation leads to less foreign direct investment. Meanwhile, low productivity foreign invested enterprises show strong negative response while high proclivity ones show insignificant impact, e.g., HMT invested firms, firms in non-capital cities and such firms in coastal provinces where the policy is stricter.

Speaker profile :

LIN Faqin, Associate Professor at School of International trade and Economics, the Central University of Finance and Economics. With research focusing on  international trade, foreign direct investment and development economics, Lin is a regular contributor to world-class academic journals and periodicals including Journal of Development Economics, European Economic Review, Journal of Comparative Economics. Lin also contributed to the book Handbook of International Trade and Transportation edited by economists Bruce A. Blonigen and Wesley W. Wilson.