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Climate variability and agriculture in Italy: a stochastic frontier analysis at the regional level

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  • Sabrina Auci

    (University of Palermo)

  • Donatella Vignani

    (Istat, Italian National Institute of Statistics, Environmental and Territorial Statistics Directorate)

Abstract

In the next future, climate change effects will represent a challenge for Europe and the Mediterranean area. These will have to cope with a rapid increase in climate variability. Although many economic sectors may be affected, agriculture is the most susceptible as climate heavily affects crop production trends, yield variability and the availability of areas suitable for cultivation. Using the stochastic frontier approach, the aim of this work is to analyse the impacts of climate variability on Italian regional technical efficiency in the agricultural sector for a period spanning from 2000 to 2009. Considering that technical inefficiency could be influenced by two main annual meteorological variables—the deviation of rainfalls and minimum temperature from the 1971–2000 mean value—and by seasonal rainfalls and minimum temperature moving average values, we find that annual, as well as spring and autumn rainfalls, have significant and beneficial effects on efficiency and hence on regional crop yields. The minimum temperature is efficiency-increasing in summer and winter while is detrimental in autumn.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabrina Auci & Donatella Vignani, 2020. "Climate variability and agriculture in Italy: a stochastic frontier analysis at the regional level," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 37(2), pages 381-409, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:epolit:v:37:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s40888-020-00172-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s40888-020-00172-x
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    Cited by:

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    3. Rovetta, Alessandro, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Conspiracy Attitudes and Risk Perception in Italy: an Infodemiological Survey through Google Trends," SocArXiv 83f9g, Center for Open Science.
    4. Alessandro Magrini, 2021. "A Stochastic Frontier Model to Assess Agricultural Eco-efficiency of European Countries in 1990–2019," International Journal of Statistics and Probability, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(4), pages 138-138, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate change; Climate variability; Agricultural sector; Italian regions technical efficiency; Stochastic frontier approach;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q10 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - General
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

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