A Study on the Impact of Environmental Regulation of Countries along the Maritime Silk Road on China's OFDI

On the basis of the relevant data from China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in 23 countries along the Maritime Silk Road from 2005 to 2018, this article uses an investment gravity model to empirically examine the influence of environmental regulations of these countries on China's OFDI entry. The results indicate that the environmental regulations of these countries negatively influence China's OFDI entry, and the robustness test is adopted to prove that the conclusions of this article are reliable. The analysis of heterogeneity shows that the environmental regulation of higher-income countries is significantly negative, whereas those of lower-income countries are not significantly negative; countries with higher levels of environmental regulation obviously inhibit entry in China's OFDI, whereas countries whose environmental regulation is at a lower level do not make a big difference to China's OFDI entry.