Are Visegrad Countries Pollution Havens?: Environmental Aspects of Industrial Restructuring in Central Europe

This book aims to contribute to the topical debate over the impact of environmental regulation on international competitiveness and the location of polluting industries. Focusing on four Central European transition countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia), this book employs two simple methodological approaches to investigate whether there are any indications of occurring specialization of these economies in pollution- intensive industries. First, the shares of dirty industries within the Foreign Direct Investment mixes in individual countries are examined. Second, individual countries¿ export specialization in pollution-intensive industries is assessed by applying the Revealed Comparative Advantage approach. The outcomes of the analysis are discussed in the context of the popular "pollution haven" hypothesis. The book thus provides a useful insight to the problems related to the finding of optimal balance between environmental regulation and international economic competitiveness and, as such, can be of interest for decision makers, environmental policy experts, as well as the concerned public.