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Reconciling the Porter hypothesis with the traditional paradigm about environmental regulation: a nonparametric approach

Author

Listed:
  • Jean Pierre Huiban

    (ALISS - Alimentation et sciences sociales - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique)

  • Camilla Mastromarco

    (UNISA - Università degli Studi di Salerno = University of Salerno)

  • Antonio Musolesi

    (Department of Economics and Management - UniFE - Università degli Studi di Ferrara = University of Ferrara)

  • Michel Simioni

    (UMR MOISA - Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - Montpellier SupAgro - Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier)

Abstract

This paper estimates the impact of pollution abatement investments on the production technology of firms by pursuing two new directions. First, we take advantage of recent econometric developments in productivity, efficiency analysis and nonparametric kernel regression by adopting a conditional nonparametric frontier analysis. Second, we focus not only on the average effect but also search for potential nonlinearities. We provide new results suggesting that pollution abatement capital affects with a bell-shaped fashion technological catch-up (inefficiency distribution) and does not affect technological change (shifts in the frontier). These results have relevant implications both for modeling and for the purposes of advice on environmentally friendly policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean Pierre Huiban & Camilla Mastromarco & Antonio Musolesi & Michel Simioni, 2018. "Reconciling the Porter hypothesis with the traditional paradigm about environmental regulation: a nonparametric approach," Post-Print hal-02623725, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02623725
    DOI: 10.1007/s11123-018-0536-8
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    2. Wang, Yun & Sun, Xiaohua & Guo, Xu, 2019. "Environmental regulation and green productivity growth: Empirical evidence on the Porter Hypothesis from OECD industrial sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 611-619.
    3. Huang, Youxing & Xu, Qi & Zhao, Yanping, 2021. "Short-run pain, long-run gain: Desulfurization investment and productivity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. Pierluigi Toma, 2020. "Size and productivity: a conditional approach for Italian pharmaceutical sector," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 1-12, August.
    5. Lena, Daniela & Pasurka, Carl A. & Cucculelli, Marco, 2022. "Environmental regulation and green productivity growth: Evidence from Italian manufacturing industries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    6. Nickolaos G. Tzeremes, 2019. "Technological change, technological catch-up and export orientation: evidence from Latin American Countries," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 85-100, December.
    7. Michael L. Polemis & Thanasis Stengos & Nickolaos G. Tzeremes, 2020. "Modeling the effect of competition on US manufacturing sectors’ efficiency: an order-m frontier analysis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 27-41, August.

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