Meanwhile mobile capital can undermine national production standards including environmental ones

Evidence

Because production cost is not simply a function of labor hours, as was believed in Ricardo’s time, but rather a function, inter alia, of wages, taxes, and regulatory burdens, internationally mobile capital can be expected to fl ock to states that offer the most attractive package of inexpensive but productive labor, low taxes, and lax regulations. This “race to the bottom” argument is hotly contested, both as a theoretical and an empirical matter. — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere, 341

Categorization

• DEFINE: Names and explains the ‘race to the bottom’ mechanism that recurs throughout environmental regulation discussions.
• XREF: connects to: Equity worries cannot be delegated to tax-and-transfer because no global redistribution institutions exist — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental…, 340; A-weighting, the environmental sound standard, is seriously flawed yet persists; Environmental protection structurally requires present sacrifice for unverifiable future gain — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 983

Broader Connections

• A-weighting, the environmental sound standard, is seriously flawed yet persists #exemplifies (0.70)
• Environmental protection structurally requires present sacrifice for unverifiable future gain #qualifies (0.70) — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 983