Environmental Efficiency, Innovation and Economic Performances

This book deals with the increasingly complex issues of eco-innovation. Eco-innovation is becoming a conceptual reference point for many regional and international public policies and management strategies. Since 2000, this field of research has been focusing on environmental innovation, particularly related to the intensity of emissions, and economic performance and efficiency. There are two reasons for this growing interest. The first is that environmental performance is one of the main economic policy goals of European countries thanks to its relevance to the Lisbon Strategy and the Göteborg priorities for sustainable development. The second, which is partly linked to the first, is related to the growing impact of environmental regulation on private sector activity in many European countries. This volume brings together microeconomics studies on firms’ eco and economic performance both in the industrial and service sector; by considering a sector based perspective rooted mainly in the exploitation of NAMEA data; at regional level, and a macroeconomic analysis of the environment, income and welfare. This collection brings together the best of recent research in the area of eco-innovation and in its entirety is an excellent source of knowledge for postgraduates and researchers students of Environmental and Ecological Economics alike. As well as fully developing the theoretical aspects of its topics, these essays are also strongly policy-oriented and will be of interest to anyone seeking information an applied perspective.