IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v119y2018icp250-267.html

The employment impact of private and public actions for energy efficiency: Evidence from European industries

Author

Listed:
  • Costantini, Valeria
  • Crespi, Francesco
  • Paglialunga, Elena

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating the main effects on EU employment dynamics related to private and public actions for energy efficiency. The econometric analysis relies on a sector-based panel dataset for 15 EU countries over the time span 1995–2009. The empirical analysis shows that after accounting for the role played by sectoral output growth, investment and innovation activities, sectoral energy efficiency gains display a negative effect on employment growth, in particular in energy intensive industries. On the contrary, we find that public actions towards energy efficiency may produce positive effects on employment dynamics. In particular, the higher incidence of taxation on energy costs, the effort towards energy efficiency gains realized in the public sector industries and the implementation of a comprehensive policy mix for energy efficiency at the country level, are factors positively influencing employment growth. This evidence highlights the complexity of the nexus between energy efficiency and employment dynamics, suggesting that superior employment performances can be achieved when complementarity effects between productivity enhancing activities and energy efficiency actions are realized.

Suggested Citation

  • Costantini, Valeria & Crespi, Francesco & Paglialunga, Elena, 2018. "The employment impact of private and public actions for energy efficiency: Evidence from European industries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 250-267.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:119:y:2018:i:c:p:250-267
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.04.035
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421518302519
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.04.035?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paglialunga, Elena & Resce, Giuliano & Zanoni, Angela, 2025. "Predicting Regional Unemployment in the EU," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp25101, University of Molise, Department of Economics.
    2. Oyewole, Oluwatomisin J. & Al-Faryan, Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh & Adekoya, Oluwasegun B. & Oliyide, Johnson A., 2024. "Energy efficiency, financial inclusion, and socio-economic outcomes: Evidence across advanced, emerging, and developing countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    3. Serenella Caravella & Francesco Crespi, 2022. "On the growth impact of different eco-innovation business strategies," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 657-683, July.
    4. Chen, Tianqi & Zhang, Yi & Jiang, Cailou & Li, Hui, 2023. "How does energy efficiency affect employment? Evidence from Chinese cities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    5. Jugend, Daniel & Fiorini, Paula De Camargo & Armellini, Fabiano & Ferrari, Aline Gabriela, 2020. "Public support for innovation: A systematic review of the literature and implications for open innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    6. Man Hin Eve Chan & Kar-Kit Chu & Hin-Fung Chow & Chi-Wing Tsang & Chi Kuen Danny Ho & Shuk-Kei Ho, 2019. "Improving the Energy Efficiency of Petrochemical Plant Operations: A Measurement and Verification Case Study Using a Balanced Wave Optimizer," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-14, October.
    7. Most. Asikha Aktar & Al-Amrani Khadeem Ali Dhahi & Usman Abdullahi, 2024. "Advancing Sustainable Development through the lens of Energy Efficiency: A Systematic Literature Review," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(5), pages 168-180, September.
    8. Caravella, Serenella & Crespi, Francesco & Cucignatto, Giacomo & Guarascio, Dario, 2023. "Technological Sovereignty and Strategic Dependencies: The case of the Photovoltaic Supply Chain," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1330, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Fernández, Sara & Torrecillas, Celia & Díaz, Guillermo Arenas, 2024. "Does eco-innovation stimulate employment? The case of Spanish manufacturing firms," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 571-585.
    10. Samuel Lotsu & Yuichiro Yoshida & Katsufumi Fukuda & Bing He, 2019. "Effectiveness of a Power Factor Correction Policy in Improving the Energy Efficiency of Large-Scale Electricity Users in Ghana," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-11, July.
    11. Ongo Nkoa, Bruno Emmanuel & Fonguen-Kong-Ngoh, Arnaud Barnabé, 2024. "Industrialisation in Africa: The role of energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    12. Giorgia Di Domenico & Andrea Colantoni & Leonardo Bianchini & Massimo Cecchini & Francesco Gallucci & Valerio Di Stefano, 2025. "Agrivoltaics Systems Potentials in Italy: State of the Art and SWOT–AHP Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Islam, Md. Monirul & Mahmudul Alam, Md. & Sohag, Kazi, 2025. "Recycling through technology diffusion for circular economy in Europe: A decomposed assessment," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    14. Chui Ying Lee & Samuel Lotsu & Moinul Islam & Yuichiro Yoshida & Shinji Kaneko, 2019. "The Impact of an Energy Efficiency Improvement Policy on the Economic Performance of Electricity-Intensive Firms in Ghana," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-21, September.
    15. Das, Abhishek & Patil, Balachandra, 2025. "Implications of electricity system transition on employment; the gainers and the losers: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    16. Luigi Aldieri & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2018. "Green Economy and Sustainable Development: The Economic Impact of Innovation on Employment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-11, October.
    17. Aldieri, Luigi & Grafström, Jonas & Paolo Vinci, Concetto, 2020. "Job Creation in the Wind Power Sector Through Marshallian and Jacobian Knowledge Spillovers," Ratio Working Papers 340, The Ratio Institute.
    18. Valeria Costantini & Elena Paglialunga & Angela Zanoni, 2025. "Relatio sine qua non. Exploring interconnectedness in sustainable development," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 11-23.
    19. Luigi Aldieri & Jonas Grafström & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2021. "The Effect of Marshallian and Jacobian Knowledge Spillovers on Jobs in the Solar, Wind and Energy Efficiency Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-16, July.
    20. Quito, Byron & del Río-Rama, María de la Cruz & Álvarez- García, José & Bekun, Festus Victor, 2023. "Spatiotemporal influencing factors of energy efficiency in 43 european countries: A spatial econometric analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:119:y:2018:i:c:p:250-267. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.