The  impact of economic complexity and green policies on environmental efficiency

Chiara Grazini; Giulio Guarini

doi:10.46551/epp2023v11n0204

Autores

Chiara Grazini University of Tuscia - UNITUS https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7305-4945
Giulio Guarini University of Tuscia - UNITUS https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9159-3360

DOI:

10.46551/epp2023v11n0204

Resumo

Resumo: A transição ecológica só pode ser alcançada combinando Progresso Tecnológico Ecológico com Mudança Estrutural Ecológica nos sistemas econômicos (Guarini e Oreiro, 2023). No contexto capitalista, a eficiência ambiental não é apenas um critério, mas representa um fator crucial para a lucratividade e sustentabilidade das empresas. A transferência de trabalho e recursos dos setores poluentes para os verdes, a Mudança Estrutural Ecológica é essencial para melhorar a dimensão ecológica da produção, especialmente para economias emergentes. Sendo um fenômeno multidimensional, ela abrange uma dimensão social associada às preferências e hábitos verdes dos consumidores e instituições. Ainda assim, é principalmente um fenômeno tecnológico relacionado à acumulação de capital. Em conformidade com o novo conceito de desenvolvimentismo de sofisticação produtiva e tecnológica (Bresser-Pereira, 2019), a mudança estrutural ecológica pode ser considerada uma sofisticação ecológica de fatores tecnológicos, sociais e culturais. Este artigo visa contribuir para o Ecodesenvolvimentismo analisando a mudança estrutural ecológica através do impacto crítico da complexidade econômica e rigor da política ambiental na eficiência ambiental, implementando um estimador de Mínimos Quadrados Generalizados para ajustar o modelo econométrico em um conjunto de dados em painel extraído do banco de dados da OCDE para 35 países, abrangendo o período de 1990 a 2020. Os resultados sugerem que políticas ambientais rigorosas combinadas com uma sofisticação tecnológica e de exportações podem representar uma estratégia vencedora para facilitar a Mudança Estrutural Ecológica, embora a transição ecológica não pareça envolver mudanças estruturais no sistema de produção para três países latino-americanos considerados: Brasil, Chile e México.

Palavras- chave: complexidade econômica e políticas verdes

Abstract: The ecological transition can only be achieved by combining Ecological Technological Progress with Ecological Structural Change in economic systems (Guarini and Oreiro, 2023). In the capitalist context, environmental efficiency is not only a criterion, but it represents a crucial driver of firms’ profitability and sustainability. Shifting labour and resources from the brown sectors to green ones, the Ecological Structural Change is essential to improve the ecological dimension of output production, especially for emerging economies. Being a multidimensional phenomenon, it encompasses a social dimension associated with the green preferences and habits of consumers and institutions. Still, it is mainly a technological one related to capital accumulation. In line with the new developmentalism concept of productive and technological sophistication (Bresser-Pereira, 2019), the ecological structural change could be considered an ecological sophistication of technological, social, and cultural factors. This paper aims to contribute to the eco-developmentalism by analysing the ecological structural change through the critical impact of the economic complexity and environmental policy stringency on environmental efficiency by implementing a Feasible Generalised Least Squares estimator to fit the econometric model on a panel dataset extracted from the OECD database for 35 countries covering the period 1990-2020. Findings suggest stringent environmental policies combined with a sophistication of technology and exports could represent a winning strategy to facilitate Ecological Structural Change, although the ecological transition does not seem to involve structural changes in the production system for three Latin American countries considered: Brazil, Chile and Mexico.

Key-words: economic complexity and green policies

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Biografia do Autor

Chiara Grazini, University of Tuscia - UNITUS

University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy, & Structuralist Development Macroeconomics Research group.

Giulio Guarini, University of Tuscia - UNITUS

University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy, & Structuralist Development Macroeconomics Research group.

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