Evaluating the Effects of Democracy and Corporatism on CO2 Emissions

This project evaluates the relationship between democracy levels and corporatism on carbon dioxide emissions in 24 countries from 1990-2010. My research question is two-fold. First, I aim to answer the question do democracies improve environmental quality? This question has been debated and empirical results are ambiguous according to country subset, time period and environmental indicator. This relationship is especially ambiguous concerning air emissions. Second, I aim to answer the question do more corporatist states improve environmental quality? Impacts of institutional structure on environmental performance have also been debated with limited and contradicting empirical results. To test these relationships, I use four multiple regression analyses. My analysis contributes to existing research with data in an updated time period and broader country set. Additionally, I test for an interaction between democracy and corporatism to evaluate their combined effects. Although some literature suggests that democratic states improve environmental quality, I find that democracy levels do not have a significant effect on CO emissions. Corporatism, however, has a significant negative effect on CO, emissions in all models. Finally, I find that when evaluated for an interaction, democracy and corporatism together have a significant negative effect on CO emissions. These findings suggest that alone, democracy does not improve environmental quality. Corporatism, however, does significantly improve environmental quality. More importantly, the two combined, democracy and corporatism, are stronger than democracy alone in improving environmental quality.