1,721,013 research outputs found
Separate waste collection in mountain municipalities. A case study in Campania
Full text linkThis paper aims to analyse the impact of land characteristics (i.e. altimetry and housing dispersion) on separate waste collection, with a focus on mountain municipalities. The high spatial heterogeneity of the driving factors of separate waste collection allows traditional techniques, such as OLS, to offer only a partial depiction of the situation, missing important information. In this view, we perform the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), which allows to control for the local determinants of waste management. Our data cover 550 municipalities of Campania, in Southern Italy. We control for a set of morphological and socio-economic variables, drawn from official records for 2012. Our results show that the relationships between land characteristics and separate waste collection are not constant over space. Moreover, they suggest that in the presence of non-modifiable factors (such as land characteristics) local governments should act on citizen motivations, promoting awareness on environmental issues, and should implement time-saving collection methods
Economic losses in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case of Sorrento
Full text linkThe tourism sector is facing its most severe crisis under the COVID-19
pandemic. Social distancing measures, global travel restrictions, stay-athome orders, and other lockdown measures brought tourism to a halt
in 2020. We estimate the potential economic losses thereof in terms of
added value and number of tourists by nationality. By using the city of
Sorrento as prominent and representative case study, we implement
time-series analysis with autoregressive-integrated moving average
models on monthly data from January 2013 to December 2019. We
thus forecast the loss of tourists and added value in 2020. The results
reveal that the pandemic has significantly affected the tourism sector,
the added value of tourism in Sorrento might decrease by over 70%,
and tourist arrivals might similarly fall or even reach zero foreign
arrivals. The local government should reassess the sustainability of
tourism proposals by factoring in the lack of tourist arrivals and
focusing on loyal tourists and proximity tourists, two fundamental
target audiences
EUROPEAN FUNDS AND EMPLOYMENT CONVERGENCE AT A REGIONAL LEVEL
Full text linkAt least three of the headline goals of the EU 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth relate directly to
employment and productivity. In particular, the first target of the Strategy fosters a high-employment economy (at least
75% of the 20-64 year-olds EU citizens) that delivers territorial cohesion, and the European Structural Investment (ESI)
Funds are the most intensively instruments used by the EU institutions for encouraging the convergence. Having regard to
the close links between the programming periods of the ESI Funds, this work throws new insights into whether and how the
2007-2013 period contributed to employment convergence at a regional level within a set of European countries, exploring
the extent to which the progress reached in this period laid the basis for the time after. Using official data level (i.e.,
Eurostat, Istat, and SIEPI) at NUTS2 from 2000 to 2016, the effect of the regional funds on local employment is exploited by
the Difference-in-Difference (DiD) method. Moreover, we perform an extended DiD model by controlling for a set of
institutional, political, and socio-economic factors, in order to investigate the main reasons behind the potential failure of the
EU funding policies in Italy. The poor quality of institutions and the heterogeneous socio-economic development prevented or
delayed synergies between funding sources in Italy, restricting national resources if a larger availability of European funds
existed
The effect of environmental attitudes and policies on separate waste collection: the case of Insular Italy
No full textThis paper investigates the factors determining waste management performance by comparing two Italian regions, Sicily and Sardinia. Using data from official records at the municipal level, the recentered influence function regression is implemented to evaluate the territorial divide in separate waste collection rates between the regions. Then, the divide is disentangled into administrative and spatial components. The administrative component evaluates the effectiveness of the strategic policies set by the regional authority and their implementation by municipalities. The spatial component captures the presence of spatial contagion effect and considers citizens’ pro-environmental behaviours. The main results show that Sardinia has achieved better performance because of its advantages of extrinsic motivations, citizens’ pro-environmental attitudes, local institutional quality, and synergy between citizens and local governments. In Sicily, the weakness of local institutions makes citizens’ par-ticipation difficult and generates citizens’ indifference towards environmental issues, explaining most of the failures in the regional waste management
Does national environmental regulation promote convergence in separate waste collection? Evidence from Italy
Full text linkIn the European Union, which is increasingly oriented towards environmentally sustainable development,
separate waste collection plays a crucial role. Over the years, the EU has produced several
guidelines, programmes and directives aimed to build a green society and tone down the differences
between, as well as within, Member States. In Italy, the waste management system is currently regulated
by Legislative Decree 152/2006, through which European directives have been incorporated into the
Italian law. The existing literature has focused on the effects of L.D. 152/2006 on Separate Waste
Collection (SWC) rates; however, there are not previous studies on the effects of this decree on growth
rates and on convergence process among regions in terms of SWC and its items (i.e., organic, plastic,
paper, and glass). This paper aims to fill these gaps. For this purpose, we implement b- and s-convergence
analysis based on Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) on official Italian regional data over the
period 2001e2018. Results show that Legislative Decree 152/2006 has two contrasting effects: on the
one hand, it helped increase separate waste collection; on the other hand, it slowed down the convergence
process in terms of separate waste collection among the Italian regions. However, the convergence
process is characterised by different speeds across Italian macro-areas (Northern, Central, and Southern
Italy), highlighting a three-speed country. To foster convergence, the national legislation should consider
regional differences in terms of economic, infrastructural, institutional, social, and demographic
characteristics
Italian waste legislation and convergence in treatment methods
No full textThis study investigates whether and to what extent Legislative Decree 152/2006—Italy’s transposition of EU waste policy—acted as a driver of territorial convergence in waste treatment methods between 1995 and 2019. While the decree introduced national targets for separate waste collection, it overlooked deeply rooted regional disparities in infrastructure and socio-economic conditions. Using β-convergence analysis and GMM estimation across Italy’s macro-areas, we investigate growth dynamics in both circular economy methods (e.g. composting, anaerobic digestion) and linear economy methods (e.g. landfilling, incineration). Our findings indicate that convergence is underway, with lagging regions gradually improving their performance. However, convergence is
primarily fuelled by regional socio-economic and institutional capacities, rather than by the decree itself. Legislative Decree 152/2006 had a modest and uneven influence—encouraging the adoption of certain circular methods like anaerobic digestion and mechanical biological treatment but falling short in curbing dependence on
linear methods or fostering consistent territorial alignment. A key regulatory gap emerges: the absence of infrastructural benchmarks and region-specific targets perpetuates pre-existing territorial inequalities. To support an inclusive transition towards the circular economy, future regulations must integrate quantifiable infrastructure objectives, conditional funding mechanisms, and targeted investments—especially in structurally disadvantaged Southern Italy
Campania and cancer mortality: An inseparable pair? The role of environmental quality and socio-economic deprivation
Full text linkThe region of Campania in Southern Italy features high levels of socio-economic deprivation and low levels of environmental quality. A vast strand of the scientific literature has tried to verify whether poor environmental quality and widespread socio-economic deprivation might explain the high cancer mortality rates (CMRs) observed, especially in the municipalities – infamously labelled as the ‘Land of Fires’ – that were hit most severely by the crisis. While some studies managed to identify links between these two confounding factors and cancer mortality, the evidence is overall mixed. Interesting information may be drawn from the observation of municipal data: in spite of previous claims, some municipalities featuring high environmental quality and low socio-economic deprivation also display high CMRs, while other Campanian municipalities facing disastrous environmental and socio-economic conditions are characterised by low CMRs. These figures, in contrast to common sentiment and previous studies, need to be investigated thoroughly in order to assess the exact role of the confounding factors. In this work, we aim to identify the municipalities where confounding factors act as driving forces in the determination of high CMRs through an original multi-step analysis based on frequentist and Bayesian analysis. Pinpointing these municipalities could allow policymakers to design targeted and effective policy measures aimed at reducing cancer mortality
Equilibrium and efficiency in the first aid services market: The case of the emergency department of Sorrento
No full textThe emergency department (ED), the heart of first aid services, is confronted by both long queues of patients waiting for treatment and limited resources to treat them. Since efficiency plays a key role in the proper functioning of an ED, interest in the measurement of ED efficiency has increased considerably. The aim of this study is to explain the dynamics of ED efficiency through a first aid market equilibrium scheme. To this end, we conduct a two-step analysis of the city of Sorrento's daily ED data. First, we implement a data envelopment analysis (DEA) to study the efficiency dynamics of the Sorrento ED. Then, we apply a Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filter to verify whether changes in ED efficiency are affected by the slope of the first aid services' supply curve. The results show an inelastic supply curve in the low tourist season and an elastic supply curve in the high tourist season
Exploring the determinants of separate waste collection from a spatial perspective
No full textA virtuous waste management is one of the main pillars of EU environmental policies. The European directives aim at minimising the waste generation and increasing the separate waste collection level. As a Member State, Italy is not far from the European targets, nevertheless it is characterised by wide regional differences. Some areas, especially in the South, experienced waste management crises mainly due to a failure to properly collect and separate urban waste. This makes Italy a noteworthy case study in the waste management framework. Our main research question is to assess the effects of different factors (i.e., socio-economic and morphological backgrounds, institutional quality, and individual motivations) on citizens’ recycling behaviours. For this purpose, we analyse the determinants of separate waste collection by comparing two regions of Southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia, characterised by opposite results in terms of separate waste collection. By using spatial econometric models, we examine whether virtuous waste management performances are driven by political dynamics rather than extrinsic motivations, such as social influence or monetary incentives, or intrinsic motivations, such as proenvironmental attitudes. The main finding is that extrinsic motivations, although important, are not the only driving forces behind the good waste management performances. The intrinsic motivations also play a key role: specifically, individual pro-environmental attitudes, knowledge and commitment to differentiate. In general, Sardinia performs better than Sicily. This advantage is explained by a more effective combination of factors (local institutional quality, monetary incentives, and citizens’ good actions) and synergy between local governments and citizens
How effective are the regional policies in Europe? The role of European Funds
No full textThe European Structural and Investment Funds are the leading policy instrument through which the EU encourages growth-enhancing conditions for less well-off regions in order to make territorial cohesion within countries. In this work, we perform the Difference in Differences technique to assess the effectiveness of the 2007-2013 EU funding in achieving the convergence in employment levels across NUTS2 regions. Controlling for the socio-economic background at the regional level, a special focus is devoted to Italy. Some empirical results suggest that the EU funding was not effective enough to help the convergence for most countries
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