Journal articles by massimiliano mazzanti
Research Policy, 2012
Available online xxx JEL classification: F14 O14 Q43 Q56
Papers by massimiliano mazzanti
Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 2013
This paper provides new empirical evidence on delinking in incomeenvironment dynamic relationship... more This paper provides new empirical evidence on delinking in incomeenvironment dynamic relationships for CO 2 and air pollutants at the sector level. A panel dataset based on the Italian NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts) over 1990-2007 is analyzed, focusing on both emissions efficiency (EKC model) and total emissions (IPAT model). Results show that, looking at sector evidence, both decoupling and also eventually re-coupling trends could emerge along the path of economic development. The overall performance on greenhouse gases, here CO 2 , is not compliant with Kyoto targets. SOx and NOx show decreasing patterns, though the shape is affected by some outlier sectors with regard to joint emissionproductivity dynamics. Services tend to present stronger delinking patterns across emissions than manufacturing. Trade expansion validates the pollution haven in some cases, but also shows negative signs when only EU 15 trade is considered. This may due to technology spillovers and a positive 'race to the top' rather than the bottom among EU 15 trade partners. General R&D expenditure shows weak correlation with emissions efficiency. SUR estimators (Seemingly Unrelated Regressions) suggest that, as regards manufacturing,
Ecological Economics, 2010
This paper provides new empirical evidence on regional-national disparities in environmental effi... more This 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. This confirms the usefulness of this method, in order to investigate structural and efficiency factors at the level of within country environmental efficiency performance. 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 making.
Ecological Economics, 2009
The paper provides new empirical evidence on the relationship between environmental efficiency an... more The paper provides new empirical evidence on the relationship between environmental efficiency and labour productivity using industry level data. We first provide a critical and extensive discussion around the interconnected issues of environmental efficiency and performance, firm performances and labour productivity, and environmental and nonenvironmental innovation dynamics. The most recent literature dealing with environmental innovation, environmental regulations and economic performances is taken as reference. We then test a newly adapted EKC hypothesis, by verifying the correlation between the two trends of environmental efficiency (productivity, namely sector emission on added value) and labour productivity (added value on employees) over a dynamic path. We exploit official NAMEA data sources for Italy over 1990-2002 for 29 sectoral branches. The period is crucial since environmental issues and then environmental policies came into the arena, and a restructuring of the economy occurred. It is thus interesting to assess the extent to which capital investments for the economy as a whole are associated with a positive or negative correlation between environmental efficiency of productive branches and labour productivity, often claimed by mainstream theory dealing with innovation in environmental economics. We believe that on the basis of the theoretical and empirical analyses focusing on innovation paths, firm performances and environmental externalities, there are good reasons to expect a positive correlation between environmental and labour productivities, or in alternative terms a negative correlation between mission intensity of production and labour productivity. The tested hypothesis is crucial within the long standing discussion over the potential trade-off or complementarity between environmental and labour productivity, strictly associated with sectoral and national technological innovation paths. The main added value of the paper is the analysis of the aforementioned hypothesis by exploiting a panel data set based on official NAMEA sectoral disaggregated accounting data, providing both cross section heterogeneity and a sufficient time span. We find that for most emissions, if not all, a negative correlation emerges between labour productivity and environmental productivity. Though this trend appears driven by the macro sectors services, manufacturing and industry, this evidence is not homogenous across emissions. In some cases U-shapes arise, mainly for services, and the assessment of Turning Points is crucial. Manufacturing and industry, all in all, seem to have a stronger weight. Overall, then, labour productivity dynamics seem to be complementary to a decreasing emission intensity of productive processes. The extent to which this evidence derives from endogenous market forces, industrial restructuring and/or from policy effects is scope for further research.
Ecological Economics, 2014
a b s t r a c t JEL classification: D21 H41 O33 Q53 Q55
International Review of Applied Economics, 2009
Technological innovation is a key factor for achieving better environmental performances. Its rol... more Technological innovation is a key factor for achieving better environmental performances. Its role is even more relevant in local productions system, where innovation density, knowledge spillovers and externalities are concentrated in a circumscribed territory. The paper exploits new data for a sample of manufacturing firms in Northern Italy. New evidence is provided by testing a set of hypotheses, concerning primarily
International Review of Applied Economics, 2011
This paper aims at analysing the role of the environment in innovative strategies based on firm e... more This paper aims at analysing the role of the environment in innovative strategies based on firm economic performance indicators such as employment, turnover, and labour productivity growth. We exploit a unique dataset of 773 Italian service firms with 20 or more employees comprising 1993-1995 CIS II data on firm innovation strategic motivations and 1995-1998 data on employment, turnover, and labour productivity from the System of the Enterprise Account (SEA). We specify a Gibrat-like empirical model in which the covariates include firm strategies (innovation and environmental), and a set of other explanatory variables and controls. Our econometric findings show a negative link between environmental motivations and growth in employment and turnover and a consequent not significant effect on labour productivity growth. The effect on employment is partly in line with past evidence and may derive from efficiency improvements (dematerialization processes) which also impact on efficiency by reducing workforce number. It is plausible that the net effect derives from the absence of low skilled employment and a creation of high skilled jobs, as a consequence of increased environmental awareness. The effect on turnover shows a negative impact from environmental innovation strategy, implying either a short-medium effect, possibly balanced in the long run by net benefits in terms of higher added value, or a real negative impact, which may be contingent on the observed period, when environmental strategies where not at the heart of strategic management policies. However, productivity-related effects (the core of performance indicators) are not significant. Mainstream hypotheses related to eventual negative impacts are thus not confirmed, although Porter-like effects and virtuous circles between environmentally strategies and performance do not seem to be present.
Industry & Innovation, 2009
This paper links two pieces of evidence in order to provide insights on how ICT affects environme... more This paper links two pieces of evidence in order to provide insights on how ICT affects environmental related performance. Sector and firm original data are used to compensate various lacks of data at different level of analyses (e.g. emissions typically lacking at firm level).
Industry & Innovation, 2012
This paper investigates the drivers of the environmental innovations (EI) introduced by firms in ... more This paper investigates the drivers of the environmental innovations (EI) introduced by firms in local production systems (LPS). The role of firm network relationships, agglomeration economies and internationalization strategies is analysed for a sample of 555 firms in the Emilia-Romagna region, North-East of Italy. Cooperating with 'qualified' local actors -i.e. universities and suppliers -is the most important driver of EI for most firms, along with their training policies and IT innovations. The role of agglomeration economies is less clear and seems to depend on the EI propensity of more locally oriented firms playing in district areas, which might even turn agglomeration into dis-economies. Networking effects and agglomeration economies are instead found to strongly promote the adoption of EI by multinational firms, thus highlighting the importance of local-global interactions. We provide some interesting findings for particular kinds of challenging EI in fields as CO2 abatement and ISO labelling, generally extending the analysis EI driver by joining local and international factors.
Environmental Sciences, 2006
The paper provides preliminary empirical evidence on delinking trends concerning waste indicators... more The paper provides preliminary empirical evidence on delinking trends concerning waste indicators in Europe. First, methodological issues regarding the analysis of delinking are discussed, and the related Environmental Kuznets Curves literature is critically examined. Then, European-level data on municipal and packaging waste are investigated by panel data approaches, examining different EKC specifications. For packaging and municipal waste flows, decoupling seems
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2013
ABSTRACT We address the possible outcomes of combining environmental taxes and environmental plan... more ABSTRACT We address the possible outcomes of combining environmental taxes and environmental planning in managing non-renewable resources such as aggregates. We empirically investigate resource taxation issues by focusing on aggregate extraction policy in two large northern Italian regions, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. The evidence shows that environmental planning, in addition to economic instruments, is needed to shape and monitor environmental policies. We highlight that the complementarity of land use planning and economic instruments can be a key driver of sustainability performances. The unintended effects of economic instruments are also crucial.
Journal of Socio-economics, 2003
The paper addresses the main implications of adopting a microeconomic applied perspective for man... more The paper addresses the main implications of adopting a microeconomic applied perspective for management and policy aspects of cultural built heritage. Within this framework, the rationale for analysing cultural built heritage as a multi-attribute mixed capital good and for implementing experiment-based valuation tools is addressed. The analysis of the multi-faceted set of services provided by built heritage is crucial for linking supply and demand considerations and for implementing innovative policy strategies at the level of individual site. Discrete choice multi-attribute valuation methods are thus presented, investigated and implemented as a practical and sound tool for applied economic analysis in the field. Results deriving from a stated preference analysis on visitors of a worldwide known site in Italy are discussed, focusing on the role of valuation experiments for the analysis of user preferences and for the associated decision making process.
The Journal of Socio-Economics, 2007
The idea behind this paper is that social capital (SC) is interpreted as a component of an invest... more The idea behind this paper is that social capital (SC) is interpreted as a component of an investment, which implies entangled private and public benefits. Within a theoretical framework that considers SC as the public component of the impure public good R&D we show that the 'civic culture' of the district in which a firm is located is not a sufficient incentive for the firm to increase its investment in SC, because SC/networking dynamics might positively and complementarily evolve only if the opportunity cost of investing in innovation is sufficiently low. Consequently, we focus our attention on a specialised biomedical industrial district characterised by a strong pattern of innovative activity. We observe that R&D and networking/social capital arise as complementary driving forces of innovation outputs. When the empirical evidence confirms that this complementarity plays a key role, policy efforts should be targeted toward both market and non-market characteristics, rather than solely to the production of local public goods or innovation inputs as independent elements of firm performance. This is very important in terms of policy effectiveness. In fact, we argue that SC/networking dynamics might positively evolve only if the private opportunity cost of investing in R&D innovation is sufficiently low. Nevertheless, this exogenous economic incentive works as long as complementarity, as defined here, holds.
Journal of Innovation Economics, 2009
La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que d... more La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que dans les limites des conditions générales d'utilisation du site ou, le cas échéant, des conditions générales de la licence souscrite par votre établissement. Toute autre reproduction ou représentation, en tout ou partie, sous quelque forme et de quelque manière que ce soit, est interdite sauf accord préalable et écrit de l'éditeur, en dehors des cas prévus par la législation en vigueur en France. Il est précisé que son stockage dans une base de données est également interdit.
International Review of Applied Economics, 2010
The paper aims to provide an original contribution evaluating several kinds of relations between ... more The paper aims to provide an original contribution evaluating several kinds of relations between four areas of innovation activities -training, technology, organization, ICT -industrial relations and firm's economic performance. Quantitative evidence for a SME (Small Medium Enterprises) based local production system is provided by exploiting two datasets: the first is derived from a direct survey carried out in 2005 collecting data on innovations, labour flexibility and industrial relations; the second is represented by a panel of official balance sheets data for the period 1998-2004. The analysis is divided in two consequential parts. We first examine the drivers of different innovation strategies and subsequently we exploit innovation indicators as potential drivers of firm productivity. The results show that training activities and organizational changes have strong links with many industrial relations indicators, thus emerging as industrial relations driven innovations. On the contrary, ICT and technological innovation seem to be more influenced by firms past performances than by industrial relations. The analysis on labour productivity drivers shows that training activities are the most relevant factors. Then, ranked consequently, technological innovation, organisational innovations and, finally, ICT also appear to impact on productivity levels. It is worth noting that the role of ICT emerges more robustly when endogeneity is specifically addressed. Finally, the role of firm size seems here to be overshadowed by other drivers.
Journal of Innovation Economics, 2009
2009/1 -N° 3 ISSN | pages 91 à 117 Pour citer cet article : -Marin G. et Mazzanti M., The dynamic... more 2009/1 -N° 3 ISSN | pages 91 à 117 Pour citer cet article : -Marin G. et Mazzanti M., The dynamics of delinking in industrial emissions: The role of productivity, trade and R&D, Journal of Innovation Economics 2009/1, N° 3, p. 91-117.
Environmental and Resource Economics, 2009
... Municipal Waste Kuznets Curves ... Z is a vector of policy related variables (see Tables2, 3 ... more ... Municipal Waste Kuznets Curves ... Z is a vector of policy related variables (see Tables2, 3 for the variables).11 In order to mitigate collinearity ... waste trends, they are a set of exogenous potential drivers that are influenced by the historical, institutional and cultural development of ...
Ecological Economics, 2012
We integrate input output and NAMEA tables for Spain and Italy in 1995 order to address the hot p... more We integrate input output and NAMEA tables for Spain and Italy in 1995 order to address the hot policy issue of sustainable consumption and production. A comparison of a production and consumption perspective may have relevant policy implications. We deal with the domestic technology assumption and primarily the aggregation bias that may result when calculating indirect emission using different sector aggregation in the analyses (e.g. 16, 32, 50). Extended Input output analysis provides analyses of the emissions embodied in domestic consumption and domestic production by considering the structure of intermediate inputs and environmental efficiency in each production sector. Our empirical findings show that different sectoral aggregation significantly biases the amount of emissions both for the consumption and the production perspective, though differently in the two countries. Italy surprisingly show consumption/production ratios around or lower than one, but in line with some major work at EU level. Our results thus suggest that special attention must be paid when interpreting the EE-IOA of country estimated amounts of embodied emissions, both in domestic final demand and those directly associated with the production sectors when the sectoral aggregation level has a low definition as considered in some recent similar studies.
Ecological Economics, 2006
The paper addresses the dynamic-incentive effect of environmental policy instruments when innovat... more The paper addresses the dynamic-incentive effect of environmental policy instruments when innovation is uncertain and occurs in very complex industrial subsystems. The case of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is considered focusing predominantly on the effects of the European Directive adopted in 2000 which stipulated economic instruments as free take-back, and on the voluntary agreements in place in many EU countries. The ELV case study is an example of a framework where policy-making faces an intrinsic dynamic and systemic environment. Coherent sequences of single innovations taking place in both upstream (car making) and downstream (car recycling/recovery) of the ELV system can give rise to different "innovation paths", in accordance with costbenefit considerations, technological options and capabilities associated to the different industrial actors involved. The impact of economic instruments on innovation paths, in particular free take-back, is considered. Deficiencies or difficulties concerning the transmission of incentives between different industries can prevent the creation of new recycling/recovery/reuse markets, giving rise to other less preferable and unexpected outcomes. The implication for policy is a need for an integrated policy approach, as enforceable VAs, in order to create a shared interindustry interest for innovation and to reduce the possible adverse effects which economic instruments exert on innovation through cost benefit impacts on key industrial and waste-related agents involved in the ELV management system. These advantages should be taken into account vis à vis the emergence of Integrated Product Policy (IPP) as a leading concept of EU environmental policy and the associated shift from "extended producer responsibility" to "extended product responsibility".
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Journal articles by massimiliano mazzanti
Papers by massimiliano mazzanti