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Exploring the driving forces of waste generation in the Portuguese municipalities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2020

Elias Soukiazis  and
Sara Proença Open the ORCID record for Sara Proença [Opens in a new window]
Elias Soukiazis
Affiliation:
Faculty of Economics, CeBER and University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Sara Proença*
Affiliation:
CERNAS and Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra/ESAC, Coimbra, Portugal
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: sproenca@esac.pt
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Abstract

This paper explores the driving forces behind household waste generation in the Portuguese municipalities. The focus of the analysis is to empirically test the validity of the waste Kuznets curve (wKc) hypothesis, which postulates an inverted U-shaped relationship between waste generation and economic activity. Panel data is collected for 307 municipalities over the 2009–2018 period. Estimating the fixed-effects model and its dynamic versions of the waste generation equation, the decoupling hypothesis is confirmed, although it is only observed in the richest region of Lisbon and three other municipalities. Results suggest that the productive structure of the local economies is important for explaining waste generation behavior. Population ageing contributes negatively to waste generation, while population density and the development dichotomy are not important drivers in this process. Finally, tourism inflows have a positive effect on municipal waste generation, although the size of the impact is minimal.

Keywords

environmental Kuznets curvepanel dataPortuguese municipalitiessocioeconomic structurewaste generation

JEL classification

Q32: Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development C33: Panel Data Models • Spatio-temporal Models Q01: Sustainable Development O18: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis • Housing • Infrastructure J11: Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts Q53: Air Pollution • Water Pollution • Noise • Hazardous Waste • Solid Waste • Recycling
Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , August 2021 , pp. 340 - 363
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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