Exploring environmental urban policies: a methodological proposal to build a composite indicator measuring urban environmental virtuosity

Synthesizing the complex phenomenon of “environment” into a single indicator could leads to a loss of information, which inhibit his use as a reference for the resolution of several issues such as, for example, the allocation of resources. On the other hand it allows to represent the overall environmental performance of cities and to highlight relationships between different sectors. We consider “process oriented” variables instead of aggregated and “outcome oriented” ones, generally used to measure environmental sustainability strictu sensu. In this sense we refers specifically to the concept of “environmental virtuosity”, that allows to rank statistical units (i.e. Italian main municipalities), considering their policy efforts for improving urban environmental quality. Generally an indicator of environmental quality should combine partial information to summarize the main subject. This paper proposes to measure urban environmental virtuosity by multivariate analysis, following OECD (2008) procedure. This methodology will try to overcome the main methodological issues in building up indicators, consisting in the choice of weights and in the common practice of simply adding sub-indicators.Composite indicators, multivariate analysis, environmental policies

Exploring Convergence in some OECD Public Social Expenditure Trends

Triggered by the phenomenon of globalisation, during recent years there has been a process of State policy rationalisation in the social expenditure domain; hence the debate over the present role and dimension of welfare state has intensified. Following on the extensive multidisciplinary literature on this issue, the purpose of this paper is two-fold 1) to apply a more traditional analysis of convergence (sigma and beta convergence) in public social expenditures and 2) to analyse public social expenditure allocation expressed as a % of GDP and derive a possible classification of the countries by means of a multivariate approach. We conclude by explaining some similarities in the expenditure behaviour of certain countries in terms of the policy transfer process. Our results can be interpreted as a further contribution to the literature on contemporary public policy evaluation in the welfare domain.Policy Making, Welfare Programme, Public social Expenditures, Policy Transfer, principal component analysis, cluster analysis

Exploring public social expenditure trends in the globalization era

Triggered by the phenomenon of globalisation, during recent years there has been a process of State policy rationalisation in the social expenditure domain; hence the debate over the present role and dimension of welfare state has intensified. Following on the extensive multidisciplinary literature on this issue, the purpose of this paper is two-fold 1) to apply a traditional analysis of convergence (sigma and beta convergence) in public social expenditures and 2) to analyse public social expenditure allocation expressed as a % of GDP and derive a possible classification of the countries by means of a multivariate approach. Our results, revealing that some convergence in the expenditure domain occurred for certain Southern and Northern European countries, can be interpreted as a further contribution to the literature on contemporary public policy evaluation in the welfare domain.peer-reviewe

Exploring public social expenditure trends in the globalization era

Triggered by the phenomenon of globalisation, during recent years there has been a process of State policy rationalisation in the social expenditure domain; hence the debate over the present role and dimension of welfare state has intensified. Following on the extensive multidisciplinary literature on this issue, the purpose of this paper is two-fold 1) to apply a traditional analysis of convergence (sigma and beta convergence) in public social expenditures and 2) to analyse public social expenditure allocation expressed as a % of GDP and derive a possible classification of the countries by means of a multivariate approach. Our results, revealing that some convergence in the expenditure domain occurred for certain Southern and Northern European countries, can be interpreted as a further contribution to the literature on contemporary public policy evaluation in the welfare domain.peer-reviewe

Exploring environmental urban policies: a methodological proposal to build a composite indicator measuring urban environmental virtuosity

Synthesizing the complex phenomenon of “environment” into a single indicator could leads to a loss of information, which inhibit his use as a reference for the resolution of several issues such as, for example, the allocation of resources. On the other hand it allows to represent the overall environmental performance of cities and to highlight relationships between different sectors. We consider “process oriented” variables instead of aggregated and “outcome oriented” ones, generally used to measure environmental sustainability strictu sensu. In this sense we refers specifically to the concept of “environmental virtuosity”, that allows to rank statistical units (i.e. Italian main municipalities), considering their policy efforts for improving urban environmental quality. Generally an indicator of environmental quality should combine partial information to summarize the main subject. This paper proposes to measure urban environmental virtuosity by multivariate analysis, following OECD (2008) procedure. This methodology will try to overcome the main methodological issues in building up indicators, consisting in the choice of weights and in the common practice of simply adding sub-indicators

Una Prima Stima del Residuo Fiscale e del suo Effetto sulla Localizzazione delle Imprese in Cina

In the present work we analyze fiscal differences among Chinese provinces using indexes built on the concept of fiscal residuum. Our analysis help us to verify the role of public transfers in promoting both fiscal equalization and competition among provinces. We further study the impact of the fiscal residua on the localization of foreign enterprises. Our first results show that enterprises are conditioned, in their localization choices, by the general welfare conditions of each jurisdiction. Our results underscore the role of local and central institutions in affecting the productive structures.Public Finance, Fiscal Policy, Revenue, Subsidies, Fiscal residuum

Environmental fiscal reform and willingness to pay for the environment: an empirical analysis on European micro data

This paper empirically investigates the determinants of willingness to pay (WTP) for the environment, employing micro data from the European Value Survey (EVS) over 2008-2010 in 27 European countries. Using ordered logit, logit and partially constrained generalized ordered logit models, we explore a wide set of individual and country level determinants. Our particular focus is on whether WTP is influenced by the Environmental Fiscal Reforms (EFR), carried out only in some countries of our sample. Our results show that WTP for the environment is lower in countries where an Environmental Fiscal Reform has been introduced. Moreover, analyses conducted on the role of information highlight that being presumably aware of the environmental fiscal reform does not affect positively the marginal willingness to pay for the environment

Environmental fiscal reform and willingness to pay for the environment: an empirical analysis on European micro data

This paper empirically investigates the determinants of willingness to pay (WTP) for the environment, employing micro data from the European Value Survey (EVS) over 2008-2010 in 27 European countries. Using ordered logit, logit and partially constrained generalized ordered logit models, we explore a wide set of individual and country level determinants. Our particular focus is on whether WTP is influenced by the Environmental Fiscal Reforms (EFR), carried out only in some countries of our sample. Our results show that WTP for the environment is lower in countries where an Environmental Fiscal Reform has been introduced. Moreover, analyses conducted on the role of information highlight that being presumably aware of the environmental fiscal reform does not affect positively the marginal willingness to pay for the environment

Exploring Convergence in some OECD Public Social Expenditure Trends

Triggered by the phenomenon of globalisation, during recent years there has been a process of State policy rationalisation in the social expenditure domain; hence the debate over the present role and dimension of welfare state has intensified. Following on the extensive multidisciplinary literature on this issue, the purpose of this paper is two-fold 1) to apply a more traditional analysis of convergence (sigma and beta convergence) in public social expenditures and 2) to analyse public social expenditure allocation expressed as a % of GDP and derive a possible classification of the countries by means of a multivariate approach. We conclude by explaining some similarities in the expenditure behaviour of certain countries in terms of the policy transfer process. Our results can be interpreted as a further contribution to the literature on contemporary public policy evaluation in the welfare domain

Life After The Storm: The Effect of L’Aquila Earthquake on Marriage Rates

Natural disasters represent a challenge for policy-makers both for the immediate aftermath and for the mid- and long-term consequences. Knowing the reaction of the struck communities is an invaluable help for planning and implementing informed policies. Embracing such a perspective, this paper aims to provide empirical evidence about the effect that natural disasters exert on the marriage rates reported by the struck communities. The analysis is focused on L’Aquila earthquake that occurred in 2009 and stroke a number of municipalities in the Abruzzo Region in Southern Italy. We exploit a natural experiment setting via a difference-in-differences design, using highly disaggregate data (municipality level) in order to assess whether the shock caused by the L’Aquila earthquake in 2009 resulted in a substantial variation of the marriage rate in the municipalities hit more severely by the natural disaster. We find that the municipalities that payed a higher toll show an increasing higher marriage rate with respect to those that did not experienced major damages