Waste recycling and yardstick competition among Italian provinces after the EU Waste Framework Directive
研究2001-2014年意大利102个省份的废物回收数据，发现2008年欧盟废物框架指令实施后，各省在垃圾分类回收上模仿邻近省份，且选举前年份模仿效应更强，受省长可连任影响。
Recycling and the recovery of waste are crucial waste management strategies. In light of the new European Union (EU) circular economy approach, these strategies remain core pillars of a competitive and sustainable waste value chain. Local governments have an important role in controlling and checking the implementation of waste management policies. We study the spatial determinants of waste recovery using a dataset of 102 Italian provinces from 2001 to 2014. To induce a possible source of exogenous variation, we exploit the political cycle of the provinces to isolate the impact of waste recovery in neighbouring provinces on its own province’s waste recovery. We find that after the transposition of the 2008 EU Waste Framework Directive, provinces mimic their own neighbours in the separate collection of waste aimed at recycling and recovery. This effect is more pronounced during pre-electoral years than non-pre-electoral ones, and fully guided by provinces where the president can run for re-election.