1,721,115 research outputs found
Is road pricing effective in abating pollution? Evidence from Milan
No full textWe estimate the effect of a road pricing policy introduced in Milan in 2008 on concentrations of benzene, carbon monoxide, particulates, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. We found a sizeable effect of the Ecopass on air quality in terms of reduction in the concentration of carbon monoxide and particulates a few days after its introduction, although this effect disappeared after only one week. We interpret these results as indicative of an inefficient policy design: motorbikes were not charged and the treated area is too limited to generate positive outcomes for the whole city. Further evidence from a natural experiment given by a temporary suspension of the charge in 2012 confirms our hypothesis on the incentives for motorbike usage
Urban Transport Policy and the Environment: Evidence from Italy
No full textThe paper reviews urban transport policies in Italian cities and their impact
on the concentration of NO2 and PM10. Using parametric and non-parametric techniques,
it finds no significant effect of the policy actions currently implemented. Further, it finds
evidence of a weak positive impact of plans adoption. These results are interpreted as evidence
of positive externalities among actions. Finally, by also discussing case studies, the
paper points out the absence of economic instruments and argues that significant welfare
gains would derive from their adoption
A social discount rate for Italy
No full textBecause of the budgetary constraints imposed by the Stability and Growth Pact, the need for cost and benefit evaluation of public investment has become increasingly relevant. In a cost-benefit analysis framework, the definition of the social discount rate is key to the selection of projects and programmes on the basis of their socio-economic return. To this extent, the Italian Ministry of the Economy has passively adopted the 5% rate proposed by the European Commission to evaluate projects financed by Structural Funds. In this article, we estimate a social discount rate for Italy, finding that a 3.7-3.8 rate would be appropriate, thus 1.2-1.3% lower than the official one
Strategies of regional development in European regions: are they efficient?
No full textA wealth of literature has focused on the effectiveness of cohesion policy for regional development. However, most studies have neglected the heterogeneous nature of such interventions. In this article, we study such heterogeneity by identifying different development strategies put in place by regional governments. In particular, by using expenditure allocation by region and by item over the period 2000–2006, we identify regions with similar development strategies. Moreover, we find that policy performance is not correlated to the strategy chosen, rather it depends on the country to which the region belongs
Path dependence, Institutions, and the Density of Economic Activities: Evidence from Italian cities
No full textIn recent years a growing body of literature has begun to consider the possible presence
of path dependence in the development processes of countries. This phenomenon has
always been recognized in regional and urban studies because the path of development
almost naturally follows a history-dependent spatial diffusion influenced by both
physical geography and the quality of institutions. In this paper, I consider the case of
firm and employment concentration in Italy and its impact on local development. A
large and growing literature has argued in favour of persisting effects of past institutions
on current outcomes. Hence, in order to identify the impact of firm and employment
density on income, I use instruments from the history of a set of Italian cities: namely
the presence of a university and status as a free-city state in the Early Middle Ages. I
first show that those two variables had an important effect on the process of urban
development between 1300 and 1861, together with favourable geographic conditions.
Then, when I use these instruments to predict firm and employment density, I find that
the elasticity of income to firm and employment density is in the interval 0.08-0.13.
This result is interpreted as providing evidence of the historical roots of agglomeration
economies in Italy
ALTERNATIVE POLICIES FOR SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
No full textBecause of the recent dramatic increase in waste production, solid waste management
and control have become one of the central issues in environmental policy. In this paper
we review alternative fiscal instruments to control the production of residuals by using the
benchmark given by the social optimum. Finnally, we apply the model to theoretically evaluate
the TARI
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