Measuring Environmental Policy Stringency: Approaches, Validity, and Impact on Energy Efficiency

40 Pages Posted: 7 Jun 2017

See all articles by Marzio Galeotti

Marzio Galeotti

University of Milan - Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP); Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM); GREEN - Centre for Research on Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy & Networks

Silvia Salini

University of Milan - Department of Business Policy and Economics (DEPA)

Elena Verdolini

University of Brescia - Department of Law; CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici - European Institute onEconomy and the Environment (EIEE)

Date Written: January 2017

Abstract

Proponents of the green growth strategy worldwide hold that reductions of harmful greenhouse gas emissions through environmental policy can be pursued together with increased growth and can result in higher competitiveness. Solid tests of this theory are impaired by the lack of appropriate empirical proxies for the commitment to, and stringency of, environmental policy. We contribute to the literature by: (1) computing different indicators of environmental policy stringency, both previously used in the literature and novel, (2) testing to what extent they convey similar insights through a comparison exercise, and (3) showing the implications of using one or the other methodology in an empirical application testing whether countries with more stringent environmental and energy policy have indeed shown historically higher degree of energy efficiency. The application is cast in an Energy Kuznets Curve framework. The analysis quite naturally carries over to the role of, more generally, economic policy.

Keywords: Energy Policy, Environmental Policy, Ranking, Energy Kuznets Curve

JEL Classification: Q58, O57, C33

Suggested Citation

Galeotti, Marzio and Salini, Silvia and Verdolini, Elena, Measuring Environmental Policy Stringency: Approaches, Validity, and Impact on Energy Efficiency (January 2017). Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano Development Studies Working Paper No. 412, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2980849 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2980849

Marzio Galeotti (Contact Author)

University of Milan - Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP) ( email )

2 via Celoria
Milano, 20133
Italy
+39-2-50316470 (Phone)
+39-2-50316486 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.unimi.it/chiedove/cv/ENG/marzio_galeotti.pdf?1531977155891

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) ( email )

Corso Magenta 63
Milan, 20123
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://www.feem.it

GREEN - Centre for Research on Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy & Networks ( email )

via Rontgen
Milan, 20123
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.green.unibocconi.eu

Silvia Salini

University of Milan - Department of Business Policy and Economics (DEPA) ( email )

Milano, I-20122
Italy

Elena Verdolini

University of Brescia - Department of Law ( email )

50 via Delle Battaglie
25122 Brescia BS
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.2d4d.eu/about-elena/

CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici - European Institute onEconomy and the Environment (EIEE) ( email )

Via Bergognone 34
Milan
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.2d4d.eu/about-elena/

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