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Environmental justice and air pollution: A case study on Italian provinces

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  • Germani, Anna Rita
  • Morone, Piergiuseppe
  • Testa, Giuseppina

Abstract

This paper provides an empirical analysis on the relationship between income, demographic characteristics and concentrations of air industrial pollutants within the Italian provinces. Two general conclusions can be drawn from the empirical results. First, the estimates obtained are consistent with an inverse U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve: air pollution releases increase with income up to a turning point where the relation reverts. Second, there is evidence that air releases tend to be higher in provinces with high concentration of females as households' head and with high concentration of children. Since our findings do not point to environmental discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, this suggests that environmental justice issues in Italy are not likely to manifest themselves along racial and ethnic terms but instead in terms of social categories and gender composition. We also find that the proxy variables employed to measure the efficiency or inefficiency of law enforcement are associated with higher levels of pollution. In terms of policy implications, this result suggests the need to strengthen, all through the country, the local enforcement of environmental laws in order to possibly reduce the negative effects on ambient air pollution.

Suggested Citation

  • Germani, Anna Rita & Morone, Piergiuseppe & Testa, Giuseppina, 2014. "Environmental justice and air pollution: A case study on Italian provinces," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 69-82.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:106:y:2014:i:c:p:69-82
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.07.010
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    1. > Environmental and Natural Resource Economics > Environmental Economics > Environmental justice

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    Cited by:

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    3. Mohaddeseh Azimi & Feng Feng & Yang Yang, 2018. "Air Pollution Inequality and Its Sources in SO 2 and NO X Emissions among Chinese Provinces from 2006 to 2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-25, January.
    4. Patrick Gourley, 2020. "What are the Long-Term Effects of Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure? Evidence from the BHPS," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 46(4), pages 603-635, October.
    5. Hecker, Lutz Philip & Wätzold, Frank & Markwardt, Gunther, 2020. "Spotlight on Spatial Spillovers: An Econometric Analysis of Wastewater Treatment in Mexican Municipalities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    6. Cuixia Yan & Lucang Wang & Qing Zhang, 2021. "Study on Coupled Relationship between Urban Air Quality and Land Use in Lanzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.
    7. Baiardi, Donatella, 2020. "Do sustainable energy policies matter for reducing air pollution?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    8. Camille Salesse, 2022. "Inequality in exposure to air pollution in France: bringing pollutant cocktails into the picture," CEE-M Working Papers hal-03882438, CEE-M, Universtiy of Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro.
    9. Lutz Philip Hecker & Frank Wätzold & Gunther Markwardt, 2018. "Spotlight on Spatial Environmental Policy Spillovers: An Econometric Analysis of Wastewater Treatment in Mexican Municipalities," CESifo Working Paper Series 7251, CESifo.
    10. Patrick Gourley, 0. "What are the Long-Term Effects of Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure? Evidence from the BHPS," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 0, pages 1-33.
    11. Davide, Di Fonzo & Alessandra, Fabri & Roberto, Pasetto, 2022. "Distributive justice in environmental health hazards from industrial contamination: A systematic review of national and near-national assessments of social inequalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    12. Sencer Atasoy, Burak, 2017. "Testing the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis across the U.S.: Evidence from panel mean group estimators," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 731-747.
    13. Jonathan Fairburn & Steffen Andreas Schüle & Stefanie Dreger & Lisa Karla Hilz & Gabriele Bolte, 2019. "Social Inequalities in Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution: A Systematic Review in the WHO European Region," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-19, August.
    14. Mastronardi, Luigi & Cavallo, Aurora & Romagnoli, Luca, 2022. "A novel composite environmental fragility index to analyse Italian ecoregions’ vulnerability," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    15. Beatriz Jiménez‐Parra & Daniel Alonso‐Martínez & José‐Luis Godos‐Díez, 2018. "The influence of corporate social responsibility on air pollution: Analysis of environmental regulation and eco‐innovation effects," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1363-1375, November.
    16. Phattraporn Soytong & Ranjith Perera, 2017. "Spatial analysis of the environmental conflict between state, society and industry at the Map Ta Phut-Rayong conurbation in Thailand," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 839-862, June.
    17. Kopas, Jacob & York, Erin & Jin, Xiaomeng & Harish, S.P. & Kennedy, Ryan & Shen, Shiran Victoria & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2020. "Environmental Justice in India: Incidence of Air Pollution from Coal-Fired Power Plants," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    18. Markwardt, Gunther & Hecker, Lutz & Wätzold, Frank, 2019. "Spotlight on spatial environmental policy spillovers: An econometric analysis of wastewater treatment in Mexican municipalities," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203627, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental justice; Social inequalities; Environmental Kuznets curve; Air pollution emissions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law

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