R. Zoboli - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by R. Zoboli
Car scrappage schemes are generally introduced to upgrade the car fleet to reduce environmental p... more Car scrappage schemes are generally introduced to upgrade the car fleet to reduce environmental pressures arising from private transportation. The effectiveness of these schemes has been often questioned. The aim of this paper is to quantify the impact of an Italian car scrappage scheme on the rate of deregistration of old cars. The empirical evaluation of the policy is made possible by a discontinuity in the age of cars that could be subject to the support scheme. Results, based on detailed information on the car fleet and the deregistration of cars in the Italian market, suggest a very large impact of the scheme.
Centro de Informacion y Documentacion Cientifica (CINDOC). C/Joaquin Costa, 22. 28002 Madrid. SPA... more Centro de Informacion y Documentacion Cientifica (CINDOC). C/Joaquin Costa, 22. 28002 Madrid. SPAIN / CINDOC - Centro de Informaciòn y Documentaciòn CientìficaSIGLEESSpai
The paper analyzes the context and the characteristics of green innovative start-ups in Italy by ... more The paper analyzes the context and the characteristics of green innovative start-ups in Italy by means of a specifically designed survey. The main research question is whether old business models can prevail in green businesses or new business models are required to develop new green businesses (start-ups). The results of a survey and direct interviews allow us to partially answer this question by identifying recurring features of green start-ups, their business models, their strategies, the barriers and drivers they face, and their links with other sectors.
The book collects multidisciplinary contributions on the topic of food as seen from the perspecti... more The book collects multidisciplinary contributions on the topic of food as seen from the perspective of culture, art, anthropology, human development, poverty
ZEW Economic Studies, 2000
During the last few years, the regulation of end-of-life vehicles (ELV) became a hot issue in the... more During the last few years, the regulation of end-of-life vehicles (ELV) became a hot issue in the European environmental policy agenda. The recent developments of the EC Directive proposal on ELV highlight that most of the controversies are, in essence, about the appropriate policy approach to stimulate innovations in ELV management and about who should bear the costs of those innovations. ELV requires, in fact, a combination of different innovations involving different actors, and regulation can influence the choice of the innovative path. The systemic nature of the innovation process and the role of regulation instruments as a “selection device” — not necessarily pushing in the best direction — clearly emerge.
The structural change of the economy towards an increasing share of services is seen in environme... more The structural change of the economy towards an increasing share of services is seen in environmental economics as a fundamental driver of ‘decoupling’ between economic growth and environmental pressures. The environmental and socio-economic consequence of structural change, however, can be less straightforward when economic interdependencies are considered. In this paper we evaluate the implications of structural change towards services in the EU in terms of environmental pressures (aggregate and by sector, direct and indirect). The changing patterns in environmental pressures are analyses vis a vis the corresponding changes in the distribution of employment and value added. For carrying out this integrated assessment we use Environmentally Extended Multi Regional Input Output modelling applied to data from the World Input Output Database (WIOD). The results suggest that the service sectors is characterized by a lower emission intensity than the industrial sectors, when looking at ...
In questo articolo vengono esaminate le relazioni fra struttura produttiva regionale ed emissioni... more In questo articolo vengono esaminate le relazioni fra struttura produttiva regionale ed emissioni di gas serra utilizzando i dati NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts) per il Lazio relativi all\u2019anno 2000. L\u2019obiettivo \ue8 mostrare come i dati NAMEA possano fornire una buona base per comprendere le relazioni fra economia ed emissioni, e possano quindi fornire supporto ai decisori pubblici. Sebbene ISTAT abbia prodotto conti NAMEA a livello nazionale per il 1990-2002, quella per il Lazio per il 2000 \ue8 la prima NAMEA di scala regionale prodotta in Italia. Nel lavoro \ue8 stata applicata alla NAMEA Lazio un\u2019analisi shift share al fine di esaminare quali siano i fattori determinanti del gap dell\u2019efficienza di emissioni atmosferiche fra Lazio e situazione media Italiana. L\u2019analisi shift share permette di isolare forze distinte: la prima legata al mix strutturale o industriale del territorio, la seconda basata sull\u2019efficienza s...
This chapter provides a methodological perspective and econometric estimates of delinking, for wa... more This chapter provides a methodological perspective and econometric estimates of delinking, for waste indicators in Europe. EKC are addressed as a natural extension of delinking analysis. They confirm the hypothesis that even European countries, characterized by high income levels and a relatively long waste policy history, are at best experiencing only relative delinking, with waste indicators increasing slightly less than economic drivers. The elasticity of two major non-hazardous waste flows (packaging and municipal) considered, with respect to consumption, at the European level, is not significantly different from unity. In other words, we are a long way from seeing a reversion in the waste-consumption relationship. It should be noted that a panel data analysis focusing on a homogenous set of countries has fewer flaws and is more informative for policy, compared to international cross section/panel analysis. The relative homogeneity characterising the European framework combined ...
This chapter set out to establish a sound framework to analyse delinking for diverse waste relate... more This chapter set out to establish a sound framework to analyse delinking for diverse waste related trends, within a WKC conceptual environment that encompasses the policy evaluation stage. This study has provided new evidence on waste generation and disposal delinking, exploiting a rich and up to date EU-based dataset that allows various analyses of the relative roles of economic drivers in the waste process, including economic drivers, structural socio-economic drivers and policy factors. The core WKC hypothesis was tested and its robustness confirmed by the inclusion of explanatory variables. First, the results show that in terms of waste generation there is no WKC trend, though elasticity to income drivers appear lower than in the past, pointing to the presence of a current relative delinking. For the EU-10, there are some stronger signs of delinking, although further investigation is needed to provide a more robust validation. There are no landfill or other policy effects that s...
Economia Politica, 2010
The idea that gains in «environmental efficiency» may have opportunity costs in terms of «economi... more The idea that gains in «environmental efficiency» may have opportunity costs in terms of «economic efficiency» has still a significant role in the environmental and industrial policy debate. In this paper we exploit a detailed NAMEA-based dataset to explore the evidence regarding the dynamic trade-off or «joint dynamics», between economic and environmental productivities in the Italian economy. The quite long period of observations (1993-2006) allows a robust ex post dynamic assessment. Sectoral heterogeneity and variance in emission-economic productivity relationships is fully captured; the panel is well balanced. We do not observe joint economic-environmental productivities in the case of CO2 emissions per unit of labour and relative delinking performance seem to worsen since the late 90's, as shown by elasticities and some structural breaks. This evidence gives food for thought, since the stagnation period experienced by Italy seems to have affected its environmental «efficie...
Technological innovation is a key factor for achieving a better environmental performance of firm... more Technological innovation is a key factor for achieving a better environmental performance of firms and the economy as a whole, to the extent that helps increasing the material/energy efficiency of production processes and reducing emission/effluents associated to outputs. Environmental innovation may spur from exogenous driving forces, like policy intervention, and/or from endogenous factors associated to firm market and management strategies. Despite the crucial importance of research in this field, empirical evidence at firm microeconomic level, for various reasons, is still scarce. Microeconomic-based analysis is needed in order to assess what forces are lying behind environmental innovation at the level of the firm, where innovative practices emerge and are adopted. The paper exploits information deriving from two surveys conducted on a sample of manufacturing firms in the Emilia Romagna region-Northern Italy-in 2002 and 2004, located in a district-intense local production system. New evidence on the driving forces of environmental-related innovation is provided by testing a set of hypothesis, concerning the influence of: (i) firm structural variables; (ii) environmental R&D; (iii) environmental policy pressure and regulatory costs; (iv) past firm performances; (v) networking activities, (vi) other non-environmental techno-organizational innovations and (vii) quality/nature of industrial relations. We estimate various input and output-based environmental innovation reduced form specifications in order to test the set of hypothesis. The applied investigation shows that environmental innovation drivers, both at input and output level, are found within exogenous factors and endogenous elements concerning the firm and its activities/strategies within and outside its natural boundaries. In the present case study, usual structural characteristics of the firm and performances appear to matter less than R&D, induced costs networking, organisational flatness and innovative oriented industrial relations. Environmental Policies and environmental voluntary auditing schemes exert some relevant direct and indirect effects on innovation, although evidence is mixed and further research is particularly needed. Although this new empirical evidence is focusing on a specific industrial territory, results concern a large set of hypothesis on potential driving forces of innovation. We thus provide food for discussion on firm environmental innovation strategies, and research suggestions for further empirical works.
Il saggio ricostruisce i costi di bilancio pubblico delle catastrofi idrogeologiche in Italia sel... more Il saggio ricostruisce i costi di bilancio pubblico delle catastrofi idrogeologiche in Italia selezionando informazioni da diversi lavori realizzati in Italia dal dopoguerra. Propone quindi uno schema di corretta valutazione dei costi sociali dei disastri naturali basato su criteri di analisi costi-benefici sociale e discute le difficolt\ue0 delle politiche di prevenzione
Ecological Economics, 2006
The paper addresses the mechanisms by which specific economic instruments based on the ‘producer ... more The paper addresses the mechanisms by which specific economic instruments based on the ‘producer responsibility principle’ (PRP) can influence innovation when environmental policy has impact on very complex industrial subsystems. We consider the EU policy on End-of-Life Vehicles (Directive 2000/53/EC on ELVs) as a representative case study of ‘multiple industry–PRP instrument’ dynamic efficiency problems. In order to achieve ambitious policy
Car scrappage schemes are generally introduced to upgrade the car fleet to reduce environmental p... more Car scrappage schemes are generally introduced to upgrade the car fleet to reduce environmental pressures arising from private transportation. The effectiveness of these schemes has been often questioned. The aim of this paper is to quantify the impact of an Italian car scrappage scheme on the rate of deregistration of old cars. The empirical evaluation of the policy is made possible by a discontinuity in the age of cars that could be subject to the support scheme. Results, based on detailed information on the car fleet and the deregistration of cars in the Italian market, suggest a very large impact of the scheme.
Centro de Informacion y Documentacion Cientifica (CINDOC). C/Joaquin Costa, 22. 28002 Madrid. SPA... more Centro de Informacion y Documentacion Cientifica (CINDOC). C/Joaquin Costa, 22. 28002 Madrid. SPAIN / CINDOC - Centro de Informaciòn y Documentaciòn CientìficaSIGLEESSpai
The paper analyzes the context and the characteristics of green innovative start-ups in Italy by ... more The paper analyzes the context and the characteristics of green innovative start-ups in Italy by means of a specifically designed survey. The main research question is whether old business models can prevail in green businesses or new business models are required to develop new green businesses (start-ups). The results of a survey and direct interviews allow us to partially answer this question by identifying recurring features of green start-ups, their business models, their strategies, the barriers and drivers they face, and their links with other sectors.
The book collects multidisciplinary contributions on the topic of food as seen from the perspecti... more The book collects multidisciplinary contributions on the topic of food as seen from the perspective of culture, art, anthropology, human development, poverty
ZEW Economic Studies, 2000
During the last few years, the regulation of end-of-life vehicles (ELV) became a hot issue in the... more During the last few years, the regulation of end-of-life vehicles (ELV) became a hot issue in the European environmental policy agenda. The recent developments of the EC Directive proposal on ELV highlight that most of the controversies are, in essence, about the appropriate policy approach to stimulate innovations in ELV management and about who should bear the costs of those innovations. ELV requires, in fact, a combination of different innovations involving different actors, and regulation can influence the choice of the innovative path. The systemic nature of the innovation process and the role of regulation instruments as a “selection device” — not necessarily pushing in the best direction — clearly emerge.
The structural change of the economy towards an increasing share of services is seen in environme... more The structural change of the economy towards an increasing share of services is seen in environmental economics as a fundamental driver of ‘decoupling’ between economic growth and environmental pressures. The environmental and socio-economic consequence of structural change, however, can be less straightforward when economic interdependencies are considered. In this paper we evaluate the implications of structural change towards services in the EU in terms of environmental pressures (aggregate and by sector, direct and indirect). The changing patterns in environmental pressures are analyses vis a vis the corresponding changes in the distribution of employment and value added. For carrying out this integrated assessment we use Environmentally Extended Multi Regional Input Output modelling applied to data from the World Input Output Database (WIOD). The results suggest that the service sectors is characterized by a lower emission intensity than the industrial sectors, when looking at ...
In questo articolo vengono esaminate le relazioni fra struttura produttiva regionale ed emissioni... more In questo articolo vengono esaminate le relazioni fra struttura produttiva regionale ed emissioni di gas serra utilizzando i dati NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts) per il Lazio relativi all\u2019anno 2000. L\u2019obiettivo \ue8 mostrare come i dati NAMEA possano fornire una buona base per comprendere le relazioni fra economia ed emissioni, e possano quindi fornire supporto ai decisori pubblici. Sebbene ISTAT abbia prodotto conti NAMEA a livello nazionale per il 1990-2002, quella per il Lazio per il 2000 \ue8 la prima NAMEA di scala regionale prodotta in Italia. Nel lavoro \ue8 stata applicata alla NAMEA Lazio un\u2019analisi shift share al fine di esaminare quali siano i fattori determinanti del gap dell\u2019efficienza di emissioni atmosferiche fra Lazio e situazione media Italiana. L\u2019analisi shift share permette di isolare forze distinte: la prima legata al mix strutturale o industriale del territorio, la seconda basata sull\u2019efficienza s...
This chapter provides a methodological perspective and econometric estimates of delinking, for wa... more This chapter provides a methodological perspective and econometric estimates of delinking, for waste indicators in Europe. EKC are addressed as a natural extension of delinking analysis. They confirm the hypothesis that even European countries, characterized by high income levels and a relatively long waste policy history, are at best experiencing only relative delinking, with waste indicators increasing slightly less than economic drivers. The elasticity of two major non-hazardous waste flows (packaging and municipal) considered, with respect to consumption, at the European level, is not significantly different from unity. In other words, we are a long way from seeing a reversion in the waste-consumption relationship. It should be noted that a panel data analysis focusing on a homogenous set of countries has fewer flaws and is more informative for policy, compared to international cross section/panel analysis. The relative homogeneity characterising the European framework combined ...
This chapter set out to establish a sound framework to analyse delinking for diverse waste relate... more This chapter set out to establish a sound framework to analyse delinking for diverse waste related trends, within a WKC conceptual environment that encompasses the policy evaluation stage. This study has provided new evidence on waste generation and disposal delinking, exploiting a rich and up to date EU-based dataset that allows various analyses of the relative roles of economic drivers in the waste process, including economic drivers, structural socio-economic drivers and policy factors. The core WKC hypothesis was tested and its robustness confirmed by the inclusion of explanatory variables. First, the results show that in terms of waste generation there is no WKC trend, though elasticity to income drivers appear lower than in the past, pointing to the presence of a current relative delinking. For the EU-10, there are some stronger signs of delinking, although further investigation is needed to provide a more robust validation. There are no landfill or other policy effects that s...
Economia Politica, 2010
The idea that gains in «environmental efficiency» may have opportunity costs in terms of «economi... more The idea that gains in «environmental efficiency» may have opportunity costs in terms of «economic efficiency» has still a significant role in the environmental and industrial policy debate. In this paper we exploit a detailed NAMEA-based dataset to explore the evidence regarding the dynamic trade-off or «joint dynamics», between economic and environmental productivities in the Italian economy. The quite long period of observations (1993-2006) allows a robust ex post dynamic assessment. Sectoral heterogeneity and variance in emission-economic productivity relationships is fully captured; the panel is well balanced. We do not observe joint economic-environmental productivities in the case of CO2 emissions per unit of labour and relative delinking performance seem to worsen since the late 90's, as shown by elasticities and some structural breaks. This evidence gives food for thought, since the stagnation period experienced by Italy seems to have affected its environmental «efficie...
Technological innovation is a key factor for achieving a better environmental performance of firm... more Technological innovation is a key factor for achieving a better environmental performance of firms and the economy as a whole, to the extent that helps increasing the material/energy efficiency of production processes and reducing emission/effluents associated to outputs. Environmental innovation may spur from exogenous driving forces, like policy intervention, and/or from endogenous factors associated to firm market and management strategies. Despite the crucial importance of research in this field, empirical evidence at firm microeconomic level, for various reasons, is still scarce. Microeconomic-based analysis is needed in order to assess what forces are lying behind environmental innovation at the level of the firm, where innovative practices emerge and are adopted. The paper exploits information deriving from two surveys conducted on a sample of manufacturing firms in the Emilia Romagna region-Northern Italy-in 2002 and 2004, located in a district-intense local production system. New evidence on the driving forces of environmental-related innovation is provided by testing a set of hypothesis, concerning the influence of: (i) firm structural variables; (ii) environmental R&D; (iii) environmental policy pressure and regulatory costs; (iv) past firm performances; (v) networking activities, (vi) other non-environmental techno-organizational innovations and (vii) quality/nature of industrial relations. We estimate various input and output-based environmental innovation reduced form specifications in order to test the set of hypothesis. The applied investigation shows that environmental innovation drivers, both at input and output level, are found within exogenous factors and endogenous elements concerning the firm and its activities/strategies within and outside its natural boundaries. In the present case study, usual structural characteristics of the firm and performances appear to matter less than R&D, induced costs networking, organisational flatness and innovative oriented industrial relations. Environmental Policies and environmental voluntary auditing schemes exert some relevant direct and indirect effects on innovation, although evidence is mixed and further research is particularly needed. Although this new empirical evidence is focusing on a specific industrial territory, results concern a large set of hypothesis on potential driving forces of innovation. We thus provide food for discussion on firm environmental innovation strategies, and research suggestions for further empirical works.
Il saggio ricostruisce i costi di bilancio pubblico delle catastrofi idrogeologiche in Italia sel... more Il saggio ricostruisce i costi di bilancio pubblico delle catastrofi idrogeologiche in Italia selezionando informazioni da diversi lavori realizzati in Italia dal dopoguerra. Propone quindi uno schema di corretta valutazione dei costi sociali dei disastri naturali basato su criteri di analisi costi-benefici sociale e discute le difficolt\ue0 delle politiche di prevenzione
Ecological Economics, 2006
The paper addresses the mechanisms by which specific economic instruments based on the ‘producer ... more The paper addresses the mechanisms by which specific economic instruments based on the ‘producer responsibility principle’ (PRP) can influence innovation when environmental policy has impact on very complex industrial subsystems. We consider the EU policy on End-of-Life Vehicles (Directive 2000/53/EC on ELVs) as a representative case study of ‘multiple industry–PRP instrument’ dynamic efficiency problems. In order to achieve ambitious policy