Browsing by Keyword "European regions"
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Item Material productivity, socioeconomic drivers and economic structures: A panel study for European regions: A panel study for European regions(2021-05) Bianchi, Marco; del Valle, Ikerne; Tapia, Carlos; Tecnalia Research & Innovation; ECONOMÍA CIRCULARThis paper provides an empirical investigation on the effects that regional economic structures exert on the socioeconomic determinants of material productivity. To this aim, first we develop a taxonomy of economic structures for more than 280 European regions that are classified in four overarching groups: agriculture-, industry-, intermediate- and service-based economies. Second, we perform a panel analysis to explore the impact of economic structures on the relationship between socioeconomic drivers and material productivity, during the period 2006–2015. Our results validate the basic hypothesis of the paper, i.e. the structural relationship between material productivity and its driving factors varies according to the underlying economic structures of the regions. In particular, we found that: (1) an increase in affluence leads to greater material productivity gains in material-intensive regions rather than in areas with service-oriented economies; (2) the degree of urban agglomeration seems to be the most important driver for material productivity, and its leverage effect is bigger among already densely populated regions. Our findings suggest that the influence of socioeconomic factors on material productivity behaves differently according to the idiosyncratic features that regions exhibit. Such diversity translates into different needs and opportunities that local policies should address by adopting a place-based perspective.Item Measuring eco-efficiency in European regions: Evidence from a territorial perspective: Evidence from a territorial perspective(2020-12-10) Bianchi, Marco; Valle, Ikerne del; Tapia, Carlos; Tecnalia Research & Innovation; ECONOMÍA CIRCULAREco-efficiency indicators represent a valuable instrument supporting policy decisions geared at sustainability. However, in order to provide effective guidance, eco-efficiency should be assessed considering the heterogeneous territorial settings, and thus the underlying economic structures that regions exhibit. Starting from the most common definition of eco-efficiency as the ratio of economic output to environmental input, this paper aims to investigate regional eco-efficiency patterns in Europe, paying particular attention to territorial heterogeneity. The study relies on the metafrontier Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to (1) assess the comparative evolution of eco-efficiency in 282 European regions between 2006 and 2014, and (2) estimate the technology and conditional efficiency gaps that regions display considering their dominant territorial features (i.e. urban, intermediate and rural). The results show an overall upward trend in eco-efficiency across European regions recorded between 2006 and 2014. However, there is no evidence that regions are converging equally to similar levels of eco-efficiency. On the contrary, a rather complex EU core-periphery pattern seems to be emerging. Most of the Eastern regions have made significant progress in reducing the technological divide. However, the same cannot be said for their resource management, which has become the main driver of inefficiency. On the other hand, the significant losses of human capital experienced by many Southern intermediate and rural regions seem to be the basis of their widening technological gap. These results suggest that future efforts to improve eco-efficiency should be aimed at encouraging an efficient use of productive factors within each region, going beyond generic urban/rural approaches and therefore implementing place-based policies building on a good understanding of the complex linkages between the physical, social and economic environments within individual regions. To the best of our knowledge, the analysis of regional eco-efficiency performance based on territorial structures represents a major contribution to previous literature in this field.