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Is Social Capital Green? Cultural Features and Environmental Performance in the European Union

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  • Jesús Peiró-Palomino

    (University Jaume I)

  • Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo

    (University of Valencia)

Abstract

This paper analyses the relationship between social capital and environmental performance in the European Union. In a first stage, environmental performance is measured by an index of eco-efficiency at the country level, computed using data envelopment analysis techniques and data for the year 2013. In a second stage, the influence of social capital and other relevant control variables on eco-efficiency is assessed by means of truncated regressions and bootstrapping, as proposed by Simar and Wilson (J Econom 136(1):31–64, 2007). For several model specifications, tests fail to reject the hypothesis of no effect of social capital on environmental performance, and the main driver of environmental performance is found to be the level of economic development, measured by GDP per capita. Furthermore, this result is robust to different definitions of social capital and sample periods.

Suggested Citation

  • Jesús Peiró-Palomino & Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo, 2019. "Is Social Capital Green? Cultural Features and Environmental Performance in the European Union," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 72(3), pages 795-822, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:72:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s10640-018-0226-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-018-0226-z
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental performance; European Union; Social capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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