1,721,093 research outputs found
Municipal waste generation, socio-economic drivers and waste management instruments: regional and provincial panel data evidence from Italy
No full textIn this chapter we provide empirical evidence on EKC and delinking trends for municipal solid waste (MSW) by considering two disaggregated panel data sets of Italian provinces (20 regions over nine years and 103 provinces over seven years) which contribute to the existing literature in several ways. First, empirical evidence on delinking and EKC for waste is scarce. Research on delinking for materials and waste is far less developed than research on air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Although some recent works (Bringezu et al. 2003) have produced extensive evidence on material intensity indicators, the still limited research results for the waste sector could become a problem from a policy perspective. Second, there are far fewer analyses exploiting country-specific, highly disaggregated panel data on waste compared with cross-country investigations. Our data sets cover the period 1996–2004 for 20 Italian regions, and 1999–2005 for 103 Italian provinces; data on waste generation are merged with official data on economic drivers at the same level of disaggregation, allowing us to demonstrate the advantages of country-specific analyses.1 Third, our analysis includes decentralized policy-related variables, in particular: share of municipalities and population in each province, that have shifted from waste taxes to waste tariffs (the latter actually closest to environmental economic instruments in
spirit) and percentage of waste management costs covered by the tax/tariff
Earthquake effects on tourism in Central Italy
No full textThis paper proposes an approach to economic assessment of the impact on tourist flows of the earthquake that hit the Umbria region in Central Italy on September 26, 1997. Local arrivals in Assisi fell drastically the month following the main shock, compared to the same month of the previous year. The event study methodology, frequently applied in finance, is employed to evaluate the statistical relevance of the shock over time and space. A further and straightforward application of the event study analysis assesses the substantial amount of loss between October 1997 and June 1998 due to the drop of tourism business. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. rights reserved
Regional and sector environmental efficiency Empirical evidence using the Italian RAMEA
No full textThis paper develops empirical analyses using the NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts) with reference to the Lazio region, Italy, where Rome is located. The data in our analysis are for 2000, the only year that both regional and national level data are available (national level data are available for the period 1990-2003). By comparing regional and national environmental sector intensities, we aim to demonstrate the utility of NAMEA and shift share analyses for environmental and industrial policy making.
In referring to a regional framework, the analysis is very significant since it allows the investigation to focus on structural and idiosyncratic features compared to national averages, providing food for thought for regional development policy making, which is the key stone of economic development. It enables economic policies to be differentiated by regions, on the basis of the observed heterogeneity in economic-environmental relationships.
We are aware of some rare examples at the international level, of regional analyses, and also a few national level studies, including the work carried out by Wuppertal Institute on environmental input-output methodologies (Nansai et al. 2007; Suh 2005; Huppes et al. 2005) including NAMEA like data that have covered mainly emission but also waste and materials (Nakamura 1999; Moll et al. 1999), the good quality Spanish data (Roca and Serrano 2007a,b).
For an overview of the recent development of regional NAMEA (RAMEA) in Italy see the institutional site www.arpa.emr.it/ramea. Stauvermann (2007) and Goralzcyck and Stauvermann (2008) present some comparative environmental performances of a RAMEA EU project.
At the international level there are some academic works, such as Ike (1999), Vaze (1999), and Keuning et al. (1999), which present and discuss some country specific NAMEA experiences, within the perspective of structural change analysis. Steenge (1999) provides a policy-oriented analysis with reference to the possible policy implications of NAMEA. There are a very few studies based on a proper environmental economics oriented perspective, for example Mazzanti et al. (2008), who exploit panel data for Italy to assess environmental Kuznets curves dynamics over 1990-2001
Waste & environmental policy
No full textThis research deals with the increasingly complex issues of waste generation, waste management and waste disposal that in less developed industrialised countries present diverse but critical concerns. It takes a socio-economic and policy-oriented perspective and provides empirical evidence at EU and regional level. The EU and Italy are taken as relevant case studies given the disparities in environmental performances between less and more developed areas.
The rich and various empirical evidence shows that a robust delinking between waste generation and economic growth is still not present, thus future policies should directly address the problem at the source by targeting waste generation in EU countries. Some structural factors like population density and urbanisation present themselves as relevant drivers of both waste management and landfill diversion. Nevertheless, economic and structural factors alone are not sufficient to improve waste performances. Though waste policies are to be redesigned by covering the entire area of waste management, some first signals of policy effectiveness are arising
The determinants of residential water demand: Empirical evidence for a panel of Italian municipalities
No full textWe present empirical evidence on the determinants of residential water demand for one Italian region, Emilia-Romagna, by using municipal panel data. The estimated water demand price elasticity is negative, showing values between -0.99 and -1.33, never significantly different from one, if we consider different specifications without and with additional socio-economic factors. Income results associated to a positive elasticity, though lower than one. The role of other socio-economic territory-specific determinants is less relevant, with the exception of altitude. The relative high value of price elasticity is deemed consistent with the higher level of regional water prices compared to the national average
Embedding the drivers of emission efficiency at regional level Analyses of NAMEA data
No full textThis paper provides new empirical evidence on regional-national
disparities in
environmental efficiency, based on analyses of NAMEA data referring to Italy
and the Lazio region,
where Rome is the main city. Shift-share analyses provide evidence on the
drivers of environmental
efficiency and on sector specificity. Our evidence shows that although the
region around Rome has
achieved higher environmental performance compared to Italy mainly thank to
its being less industry
based, some critical points in the energy sector and in some services should
be taken into account in
shaping the future development of the region. In addition, the use of regional
NAMEA for econometric
investigations of emission efficiency drivers at national level shows that
though north south disparities
favour northern and richer regions, in accordance with development oriented
dynamics,
environmental hot spots driven by specialization and efficiency related issues
also appear in some
northern industrial regions. Further, the role of public ad private R&D is of
main relevance in
enhancing emission on economic value ratios.
Environmental, industrial and sector-oriented policy making may derive
valuable information from the
evidence provided by our study, that highlights how analytical exploitation of
NAMEA offers rich array
of insights for regional policy makin
Introduction
No full textWe provide a short conceptual sketch of the scientific framework in which the book is embedded, of which eco-innovation (EI) is probably the corner stone. EI is becoming
a conceptual reference point for many regional and international public policies and management strategies. Over the first years of 2000, this field of research has been
focusing on environmental innovations, particularly related to the intensity of emissions, and economic performance and efficiency. There are two reasons for this growing interest. The first is that environmental performance is one of the main economic policy goals of European countries thanks to its relevance in the Lisbon Strategy and the Göteborg priorities for sustainable development. The second, which is
partly linked to the first, is related to the growing impact of environmental regulation on private sector activity in many European countries
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