Efficiency in the use of natural non-renewable resources from mining and quarrying in Italy. Time series analysis and Economy-wide Material Flows Accounts

Abstract

Political reasons have been pushing towards a process of decentralization of powers and responsibilities since last twenty years in Italy. The regional management of mining and quarrying (m&q) should be an interesting case study of this change. This process has begun in the ’70s with the Pres. Decree N. 616 of 1977. By examining administrative data and Regional Laws, this paper highlights how misleading is the awareness of policy makers of the real value of raw mineral resources domestically extracted: they seem closer to common goods rather than to public goods. By combining data on local governance with official statistics of Economy-wide Material Flow Accounts (EW-MFA), our econometric analysis intends to verify both the existence of an inverse supply curve between m&q domestic producer price index (as dependent variable) and no-energy producing mineral quantity extracted and the effect of Italian Regions Responsibility about m&q activity on m&q domestic producer price index, controlling for construction sector value added, R&D national expenditure, Openness to international trade (1980-2010)