Efficiency in the Use of Natural Non-renewable Resources and Environmental Federalism in Italy. Evidence from Regional Management of Mining and Quarrying

The separation of powers and responsibilities has evolved over time in Italy given that political ideals have been pushing towards a greater decentralization for the last twenty years. Under environmental federalism issues, an interesting case of study - capable of being empirically treated - is the attribution of power to the Regional governments over the management of mining and quarrying. This process, however, -- started in the ’70s with the Presidential Decree N. 616 of 1977. By examining Regional Laws, this paper highlights how the policy makers have a misleading perception of the real value of raw mineral resources domestically extracted and that these seem closer to common goods rather than to public goods. By using official statistics, the aim of our econometric analysis is to verify both the existence of an inverse supply curve between mining and quarrying domestic producer price index - considered as a dependent variable - and non-energy producing mineral quantity extracted and the effect of the Italian Regions Responsibility over mining and quarrying activity on mining and quarrying domestic producer price index, controlling for construction sector value added, R&D national expenditure and Openness to international trade in the period 1980-2009.