The efficiency of the public intervention on the environment:Evidence based on non-parametric and parametric approaches

This paper evaluates the efficiency of the allocation of public resources aimed at complying with the European environmental directives. A full and partial frontier Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is applied to a panel of decision-making units (i.e. a set of regions), with a specific focus on the air & water and biodiversity sectors. The Malmquist productivity index allows one to analyse regional productivity change; while a post-DEA, based upon Simar-Wilson approach, allows one to explore the factors that affect the performance. Overall, a specific group of regions outperform for air & water intervention while the reverse outcome is obtained for biodiversity. The findings also show a rather low technological change, especially for biodiversity. The post-DEA indicates that an increase in the tourism and agricultural activity exerts a negative impact on the air & water public efficiency, while has a positive influence on biodiversity. Higher education in technical subjects also increases performance.