Welcome!

I am a Doctoral Candidate of Political Science in International Political Economics, Environmental Studies and Chinese Studies at the University of Oregon.

My research focuses on the conditions in which foreign investors may harm or help the natural environment, particularly how the interaction of corporations with different types of actors at the global, national, and subnational levels determines corporate policy responses to environmental issues.

I am particularly interested in how environmental outcomes in developing countries are affected by where their foreign investment comes from. I study this by looking at how foreign investors that come from different countries, where there are different levels of environmental practices, may behave differently in developing countries.

My research seeks to answer the question: do environmental practices in developing countries vary due to the source of their investment? This research is situated in the ongoing debate over whether foreign investment is good for the environment or not, which has implications on the way that governments regulate foreign investor actions. I introduce an economic theory into my work known as source effects; this approach requires the researcher to disaggregate monetary flows by where they come from. Source effects theory suggests that different sources of economic flows carry with them different ideas, corporate policies, and expectations for behavior based on where the flows come from. I use a mixed methods approach mixing content analysis, a compositional effects model, and case studies to show how investment from different countries differs in recipient countries.