My research tests for the possibility that foreign investors are drawn to so-called “pollution havens”—regions in which environmental regulations are either less severe or not well enforced. This research focuses on the manufacturing sectors in four countries: Mexico, Venezuela, Ivory Coast and Morocco. In the late 1980s, the share of foreign assets in manufacturing varied from 38 percent in Ivory Coast to seven percent in Venezuela. Foreign investment accounted for about 15 percent of total assets in Moroccan manufacturing, and ten percent in Mexico. The analysis of pollution havens and foreign investors is divided into three parts. First, we examine whether foreign investors in these four developing countries are attracted toward “dirtier” sectors, defined as product groups where either pollution emissions are high or pollution abatement costs are high . Second, we then compare the energy efficiency of domestic enterprises and multinationals in these same countries. This allows us to see whether foreign investors played an important role in improving the environment by using more energy-efficient technology as well as cleaner sources of energy. Finally, we examine whether the pattern of outward U.S. foreign investment is skewed toward sectors with high pollution abatement costs. We first analyzed whether the pattern of foreign investment in the four developing countries provides any evidence of pollution havens. Is there more foreign investment in sectors with high pollution abatement costs or high emissions, after controlling for other factors that affect the pattern of foreign investment? This means that we need to control for such factors as the degree of competition,dutch bucket hydroponic the size of the domestic market, domestic wages and other factors that make the market attractive.

Once we control for these factors, we then analyze whether there is more foreign investment in sectors where pollution abatement costs in the United States are high, using annual, sector-level data drawn from U.S. surveys on pollution abatement costs among manufacturing plants. The results suggest that pollution abatement costs in the U.S. have no impact on the pattern of foreign investment in these four countries. In other words, there is no more investment in Mexico in petroleum refining or cement, sectors with high abatement costs, than there is in other sectors. As a follow-up, we used emissions data from the U.S. toxic release inventory to analyze whether or not there is more foreign investment in these four developing countries in areas of manufacturing where U.S. pollution emissions are high. As measures of emissions, we use total particulates , a measure of air pollution; biological oxygen demand , which is a broad measure of water pollution; and total toxic releases . Total particulates, which capture small and large dust particles, are closely related to phenomena such as the London smog and to air pollution in cities with emissions from fuel and diesel oil combustion, energy-intensive processes such as steel and cement, two-stroke engines, coal use, and burning of wood and residues. Analysis in the World Bank and elsewhere indicates that the release of particulates is the main air pollution problem in many third world cities . Biological Oxygen Demand indicates how discharges to water bodies deplete their oxygen levels, and is widely accepted as a broad measure of water pollution. Total toxic releases is an unweighted sum of releases of the 320 compounds in the U.S. EPA’s toxic chemical release inventory. All of these measures are by weight. Emissions are divided by the total output of the firm, measured in monetary terms, to arrive at sector-specific emission intensities for the three pollutants. Table 1 reports the correlations between these three measures of emission intensity and U.S. pollution abatement costs . Correlation coefficients are a measure of the statistical relationship between two variables. They range from –1.0 to 1.0 .

A correlation coefficient near zero implies little relationship between the two variables. Table 1 shows that, in a comparison among different manufacturing sub-sectors within the United States, there is no significant correlation between air pollution, water pollution and toxicity. Thus, although these three measures of pollution are very broadly defined, there is no general tendency that a sector which pollutes in one medium also pollutes in another medium. However, Table 1 does report a statistically significant correlation between abatement costs and toxic releases. Industries which on average have high abatement costs typically also emit toxic substances. If we use these alternative measures of pollution intensity in our analysis, we again find no relationship between high emissions in the U.S. and the pattern of foreign investment abroad. The second part of the study examines the behavior of foreign and domestic enterprises in these four host countries. We find that multinational firms are significantly more efficient in their use of energy than domestic plants. In addition, multinationals tend to use cleaner types of energy, such as electricity and natural gas. Even if we take into account the fact that multinational enterprises are typically younger than domestic firms, we still find that multinational firms of the same vintage are more energy efficient. To the extent that energy use is a good proxy for pollution emissions, this suggests that multinationals in developing countries tend to use cleaner technologies than domestic firms. To test whether energy use is a good proxy for emissions, we explore the relationship between energy use and toxicity across sectors, using U.S. data. We show that even in the U.S., where respectable air pollution control programs have been in place for more than 20 years, and the choice of fuels and electricity is highly varied, there is a strong statistical relationship between air pollution coefficients and energy use. As in Table 1, we use three measures of emissions: particulates, which measure air pollution; BOD, which measures water pollution; and toxics.

We report the rank correlations between those emissions and six different factor inputs in Table 2: the share of unskilled labor in total value of shipments, the skilled labor share, capital share, manufactured input shares, raw material input shares, and the share of energy inputs in total output. Energy use is highly correlated with different measures of emissions. The correlation between energy use and particulates is .58; between toxics and energy use the correlation varies between 0.52 and 0.55. The correlation with BOD is lower at 0.22,dutch buckets system though also significantly different from zero. Table 2 also shows that the correlation between pollution and energy use is much higher than for other factor inputs. Yet even if energy intensity could provide a good proxy for emissions across industries, energy intensity may not be a good proxy for differences in emissions between plants within the same industry. To investigate this issue, we used a cross section of U.S. manufacturing firms to examine the relationship between different types of factor inputs and plant-specific emissions, one industry at a time. The strength of the relationship between energy use and emissions varies with the type of industry. Specifically, particulates are highly correlated with energy use at the plant level for only four industries: chemicals, petroleum refining, lumber and wood products, and non-electrical machinery. Two of the most polluting activities in manufacturing—chemicals and petroleum refining—are included in these four sectors. Consequently, we repeated the analysis, restricting ourselves to only those four sectors where energy use serves as a reasonable proxy for emissions. We find that in those sectors, foreign firms are indeed more efficient in their use of energy.The third part of the study shifts the focus from developing countries to the United States. We examined the pattern of outbound U.S. foreign investment, asking whether, after controlling for other factors, there is any indication that most foreign investment originating in the United States and relocating abroad is located in pollution-intensive sectors. We find some evidence in support of this hypothesis, but the results are too weak to make strong claims.The Citrus Variety Improvement Program of INTA, in Argentina was established 29 years ago as an industry insurance policy. Since 1984, the Concordia Experiment Station has maintained citrus mother trees tested for freedom from disease and trueness to type. The objective is to secure propagating material of commercial varieties for industry needs. Varieties are selected from research projects and/or introductions and are subject to quarantine controls and a sanitation process. The selected trees are shoot-tip grafted and indexed for tristeza, psorosis, exocorThis, cachexia, citrus variegated chlorosis, canker and huanglongbing. Two hundred and eighteen scion and rootstock varieties are maintained and evaluated annually for their agronomic characteristics and sanitary status by visual observation and biological, immunochemical and/or molecular diagnostics. Data obtained on origin, botanical characteristics, agronomic performance, sanitary status and availability of propagation material is recorded. The information is available at INTA’s website . Basic material is exported to citrus producing countries and sent to germplasm banks on request. The isolation, annual evaluations, pest monitoring and disease diagnosis guarantee the quality of the material offered by the program to the Argentine citrus industry.Lemon cultivars recovered by shoot-tip grafting were compared with the original 30-40 year old nucellar clones located in a germplasm block in Tucuman, Argentina. Cultivars evaluated were Frost Eureka, Limoneira 8A Lisbon, Feminello Santa Theresa, and Genoa EEAT. These were grafted on Poncirus trifoliata Flying Dragon, except for Frost Eureka which was grafted on 79 AC Cleopatra mandarin x Swingle citrumelo [Citrus reshni xdue to its incompatibility with trifoliate rootstock. The selected clones were naturally infected with CTV, an endemic disease, and Frost Eureka was also infected with one viroid .

Trees propagated with STG budwood were indexed and confirmed to be free of CTV, psorosis, and citrus viroids before planting. A field trial was planted in November 2007, with four randomized blocks per treatment and four replicate trees per block. Tree height, canopy volume, trunk circumference, fruit yield and quality were evaluated. CTV infection was monitored annually in spring of 2009, 2010 and 2011, and thereafter in spring and fall of 2012 and 2013. Direct immuno printing ELISA with 3DF1+3CA5 monoclonal antibodies was used to detect CTV in field samples. In 2009, Limoneira 8A had the highest incidence of CTV infected plants followed by Genoa EEAT while Feminello Santa Theresa remained CTV free. In 2013, 100% of STG lemon lines were infected with CTV. Cumulative yield after four harvests of Limoneira 8A, Feminello Santa Theresa, and Genoa EEAT was no different from trees budded from their respective mother trees. In contrast, the STG line of Frost Eureka yielded 80% more fruit than the source tree with the viroid. In conclusion, CTV did not substantially affect the growth and yield of the lemon cultivars tested, while the viroid in Frost Eureka considerably reduced tree productivity.Shoot-Tip Grafting is an important part of a comprehensive certification program. Reduction in the time for certification to an average of two years is possible. Components of a highly successful STGing program include good scheduling, dedicated STGing personnel, a comprehensive testing program, a reliable source of seed, and a clean area for working including specialized tools and equipment. Proficiency in both the bud stick technique and the leaf-stripping technique will give flexibility in scheduling and allow faster completion times.Laboratory tests on young STGs should be used for a early indication of failure; follow up testing will determine if elimination of pathogens was successful. Precision trimming starts with the use of Gelrite for a solid base of STG set up, allowing the STGs to be evaluated in a horizontal position with a dissection microscope. Detailed notes are taken weekly and micro-trimming can prevent the selection of root sprouts by accident. Most STGs begin sprouting at two to three weeks. Small STGs grafted into root stocks will grow faster in the greenhouse and be ahead of STGs grown for a longer period in culture tubes in the laboratory. Increased sucrose can speed the development of some selections, but the increased number of root sprouts and associated trimming can be disadvantageous. The transfer to the greenhouse may be a problem area; it is best if personnel involved with STGing do the grafting and follow-up. Kinkoji is used for grafting of STGs as it is easy to work with year around and has increased our success rate.