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Quality of Life in Major Italian Cities: Do Local Governments Cost Efficiency Contribute to Improve Urban Life Style? An Introductory Analysis
Titolo Rivista: ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT 
Autori/Curatori: Simona Bigerna, Paolo Polinori 
Anno di pubblicazione:  2013 Fascicolo: 3  Lingua: Inglese 
Numero pagine:  24 P. 121-144 Dimensione file:  818 KB
DOI:  10.3280/EFE2013-003005
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In this paper we set forth a novel analysis of urban quality of life (QoL) using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. We use a newly constructed municipality database, which includes all 103 provincial capitals. In our approach we follow a two-stage method. In the first stage, we estimate efficiency scores through a nonparametric DEA with desirable and undesirable outputs. Estimated rankings are compared to Legambiente index. In the second stage, we regress efficiency scores on economic, social and political variables. Our main objective is to estimate non discretionary variables effects on efficiency. According to Simar and Wilson (2007) results show that local government efficiency is highly heterogeneous and that there exists high correlation among our rankings and Legambiente index. Considering exogenous effects, geographical conditions and political aspects constitute the main determinants of municipalities’ efficiency.


Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis; Two-stage; Quality of Life; Undesirable output; Local Government Efficiency
Jel Code: C24, C61, R38

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Simona Bigerna, Paolo Polinori, in "ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT" 3/2013, pp. 121-144, DOI:10.3280/EFE2013-003005

   

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