Environmental Policies, Innovation and Productivity in the EU

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. De Santis ◽  
C. Jona Lasinio
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Environmental Policies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Porter Hypothesis ◽  
European Economies ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Productivity Enhancement

In this paper we test the narrow Porter hypothesis on a sample of European economies in the period 1995–2008. We focus on the channels through which tighter environmental regulation affect productivity and innovation. Our findings suggest that the “narrow” Porter Hypothesis cannot be rejected and that the choice of policy instruments is not neutral. In particular, market based environmental stringency measures seem to be the most suitable to stimulate innovations and productivity growth. Consistently with the strategic reorientation of environmental policies in the European Union since the end of the eighties, our results indicate that the EU might privilege the market based instruments in order to meet more effectively the 2030 targets, especially through the channels of innovation and productivity enhancement.

scholarly journals Governing education policy: the European Union and Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gosia Klatt ◽  
Marcella Milana
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Education Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Modes Of Governance ◽  
The Eu

This paper considers the changing modes of governance of education policy in the European Union (EU) and Australia through a lens of ‘soft governance’. It considers the increased use of ‘policy instruments’ such as benchmarking, targets, monitoring, data-generation in policy-making in recent decades. It considers the roles these policy instruments play in coordinating education policy in the EU and Australia as well as their intended and unintended consequences. It shows that in the EU, these instruments played a role in strengthening the coordination through the links between individuals and programs, and networking, which is seen as resulting in enhanced creativity in policy solutions, development of new norms and new means for achieving policy goals. While in Australia it seems that the role of these instruments is focused on consolidating the role of the Commonwealth’s oversight and control over what constitutionally is a responsibility of States which adds to several policy tensions already existing in the federal coordination of education.

scholarly journals Limits of the EU’s transformative power and the Western Balkans

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-49
Author(s):  
Maja Kovacevic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) is a unique player in the Western Balkans, where it has employed a wide array of foreign policy instruments since the 1990s such as diplomacy, trade, financial assistance, civilian missions, military missions, and enlargement, which is the EU?s most successful foreign policy tool. The region is an inspiring case for studying the EU?s transformative power. The undeniable success of the EU?s Enlargement Policy in influencing transitions of Central and Eastern Europe countries has inspired research of the Europeanization, or the EU?s transformative power in relation to candidate countries, and its impact on their political and economic reforms during the accession process. Since then, the EU?s global transformative power has been in crisis. The European Neighbourhood Policy was reviewed in 2015, aiming not any more towards the transformation of neighbouring states, but rather at fostering their resilience. Similarly, the 2016 Global Strategy for the European Union?s Foreign and Security Policy set the principled pragmatism as a guideline. Moreover, the EU?s transformative power towards member states is questioned after two initiatives to trigger Article 7 TEU procedures against Poland and Hungary. What about the Europeanization of the Western Balkans? Despite the fact that the EU has been the main driver of change, the Europeanization of this post-conflict region has been slow. According to Freedom House, after substantial progress from 2004 to 2010, the Western Balkans has declined six years in a row, and its average Democracy Score in 2016 is the same as it was in 2004. With the exception of Albania, the scores of all countries are declining, not improving. The EU?s security-democratisation dilemma strongly affects its transformative power in the Western Balkans. By prioritising effective government rather than democratic governance, the EU has helped stabilise non-democratic and corrupt regimes rather than transforming them, legitimising Balkan "stabilitocrats".

Kryzys modernizacyjny a działania Unii Europejskiej na rzecz wzrostu gospodarczo-społecznego

2015 ◽  
pp. 96-121
Author(s):  
Justyna Miecznikowska
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Eu

The purpose of the analysis is to demonstrate, in the historical perspective covering the period between 2000 and 2014, the series of modernisation efforts, undertaken within the European Union, which aimed at increasing the rationality of economic and social processes occurring in the single European market. The assumption was that a thorough examination of the current process of EU reforms would allow for the identification of sources of the modernisation crisis. The adopted research hypothesis assumes that the present modernisation crisis is a consequence of the weakness of European governance and insufficient adaptation of the EU policy instruments to the constantly changing political and economic challenges, such as globalisation, territorial expansion and the global financial crisis. Effective modernisation of the European Union is hindered by the manner of implementation of EU’s tasks and objectives at the national level (based on the open method of coordination) and challenged by the interstate competition escalating within the EU in times of economic downturn and arising from the divergent interpretations of national interests. The present modernisation crisis manifests itself in the failure to comply with the adopted economic and social development strategies and the threat of regressive changes.

Regulatory Federalism: EU Environmental Regulation in Comparative Perspective

2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Daniel Kelemen
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Regulatory Policy ◽  
Institutional Structure ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The Us ◽  
Comparative Federalism ◽  
The Eu

This article analyzes the development of environmental regulation in the European Union from the perspective of comparative federalism. It presents a theory of regulatory federalism that explains how the basic institutional structures of federal-type polities shape the development of regulatory policy. The article assesses the theory by systematically comparing the development of environmental regulation in the EU, the US, Canada and Australia. The analysis suggests that the EU's institutional structure encourages the development of a US-style pattern of regulation, characterized by detailed, non-discretionary rules and a litigious approach to enforcement.

scholarly journals The European Union’s Activity in Regard to the Conflict in Ukraine Before the 2014 Presidential Election

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-86
Author(s):  
Michał Rulski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
European Neighborhood Policy ◽  
Ukrainian Crisis ◽  
The Eu

Ukraine is the largest country that is included in European Neighborhood Policy. That is why the European Union should spotlight relations with this eastern partner, especially by foreign policy instruments like association agreement. The focus here is on the EU’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis in period from Maidan revolution at the end of 2013, which was occasioned by the rejection of the association agreement with the EU by President Viktor Yanukovych, and to the presidential election in 2014. The main issue is to evaluate the EU’s scope to stabilize the political environment in the nearby neighborhood and eliminate threats, which are the results of war between Ukraine and Russia.

scholarly journals Considerations on the Environmental Policies and Strategies of the European Union

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-82
Author(s):  
Gheorghe Durac ◽  
Andreea Luminița Cărpușor
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
Environmental Policies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Complex Activity ◽  
Essential Connection ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The protection of environmental factors, of the environment as a whole, is a major and ever more pressing issue, which should be of interest to all mankind, to all the states, and to all political and governmental decision factors. In this sense, at the level of the Member States of the European Union, it was necessary to draw and adopt coherent environmental policies and strategies, which would insure an effective protection of the natural and anthropological factors, on the medium and long term. Environmental quality is a matter of general, global interest, which requires achieving appropriate environmental policies, taking into account the essential connection between the world’s economy and the environment. The environmental policy is a method of organising, coordinating, and institutionalising the complex activity of protecting the environmental factors, meant to set the strategies, means, and their implementation techniques at a national, regional, and global level, with the purpose of insuring the preservation and development of the environment. Within the European Union, the opportunity to draw and adopt an environmental policy was determined by the problems that surged following the rapid extension of pollution, a phenomenon that does not stop at the borders of one state or of Europe. Thus, in a first instance, the general policy concerning the environmental protection within the European Union was formulated and defined, through the elaboration and implementation of the Environmental Action Programmes, following which the European Commission established the sectoral strategies in the field, starting from the Strategy for sorting waste and continuing with the EU Strategy for natural protection, the EU Strategy for air pollution, and the EU Strategy for water pollution. In the end, by adopting the Strategy for Sustainable Development, the environmental policy is permanently connected to the environmental issues that may appear, leading to new tendencies in the actions for environmental protection. The efficiency of environmental policies in the European Union is materialized through improvements in the issues related to air quality, surface water quality, through the dissemination and delimitation of fauna protection areas, but there are still many contexts in which such approaches should be intensified, such as: global warming, deterioration of piscicultural fauna, decline in biodiversity.

scholarly journals Европска унија - криза и изазови развоја и опстанка // European union - the crisis and development challenges and survival

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (24) ◽  
pp. 153
Author(s):  
Никола Жарковић
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Employment Growth ◽  
Individual Member ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Economic Prosperity ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Individual ◽  
European Economies ◽  
The Eu

Резиме: Економска криза је избрисала прогрес европских привреда остварен у годинама прије кризе. Стабилан привредни раст и раст запослености који су карактерисали деценију прије кризе су нестали. У условима раста и економског просперитета, асиметрија Европске уније и еврозоне није стварала веће проблеме. Међутим, економска криза у Европској унији је имала израженији интензитет и дуже вријеме трајања у односу на САД и неједнак интензитет на поједине земље чланице Европске уније. Криза је открила фундаменталне слабости Европске уније. Европска унија се налази пред великим изазовом: како обезбиједити просперитетан развој у будућности? Европској унији је потребан већи степен политичке и фискалне интеграције, веће улагање у истраживање и развој ради развијања економије утемељене на знању и иновацијама, квалитетније образовање, већи степен запослености и заштите животне средине. Европска унија треба ријешити сопствене слабости и даљњим процесом интеграција обезбиједити нове изворе снаге.Summary: The economic crisis has wiped out the progress of European economies achieved in the years before the crisis. Steady economic growth and employment growth that characterized the decade before the crisis are gone. In terms of growth and economic prosperity, the asymmetry of the European Union and the euro zone did not cause major problems. However, the economic crisis in the European Union had a stronger intensity and longer duration compared to the US and the unequal intensity of the individual Member States of the European Union. The crisis has revealed fundamental weaknesses of the European Union. The European Union is facing a great challenge, to ensure prosperous development in the future? The EU needs a greater degree of political and fiscal integration, greater investment in research and development to develop economies based on knowledge and, innovation, quality education, higher level of employment and protection of the environment. The European Union should solve their own weaknesses and further the process of integration to provide new sources of power.

The European Union and Environmental Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Benson ◽  
Andrew Jordan
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Member States ◽  
Environmental Measures ◽  
The Eu

Although manifestly not a state, the European Union (EU) has evolved from its origins as a trade-based economic organization to become a supra-national political body that regulates across multiple policy sectors in a state-like manner. Nowhere is this regulatory influence more pronounced than in relation to the environment, where the EU now effectively determines the national policy of its member states in areas as diverse as air quality, water pollution, habitat protection, and genetically modified organisms. Countries outside of the EU are also increasingly influenced by its policy norms. Indeed, the EU is widely recognized as an international environmental policy entrepreneur, particularly in relation to climate policy. What is even more remarkable is that this broad environmental acquis communautaire, or corpus of policy and law, has been assembled in the space of just four decades. Up until the early 1970s, environmental concerns were primarily governed at the national and/or sub-national levels in Europe. Environmental measures that were adopted by the European Economic Commission (EEC) were overtly aimed at trade harmonization within a common market. As new, and more costly, regulatory measures were adopted, conflicts erupted with member states. These battles continued into the 1990s, with member states invoking the principle of subsidiarity to slow down the pace of integration. By the 2000s, EU policy had reached a state of maturity. Despite attempts by more economically liberal governments and industrial actors to roll back policy expansion, the EU sought to shift the emphasis of policymaking toward more holistic responses to sustainable development issues. Economic austerity has, to an extent, slowed the pace of policy expansion but the future of the sector is likely to witness greater experimentation with novel policy instruments and a gradual merging of environmental, climate and energy policy objectives. In this respect, EU environmental policy remains a work in progress. A growing literature on these topics has emerged since the late 20th century. Firstly, several key texts have been published to provide an overview of the sector. Secondly, the literature has also focused more specifically on political decision-making, including the institutional aspects of policymaking. Thirdly, scholars have researched individual policies or policy subsectors, often using them to understand integration through time. Fourthly, empirical work has formed the basis of theory testing or theory building, using perspectives imported from comparative (national) politics and European integration. Finally, research has engaged with the process of environmental governing across multiple institutional levels, including understanding the implementation of measures and how member states are being Europeanized. This overview of the published literature is structured according to these strands.

Rethinking the role of the EU in enhancing European competitiveness

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Ketels ◽  
Michael E. Porter
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Many ◽  
European Economies ◽  
The Eu

Purpose This paper aims to review the evidence on Europe’s economic performance and on the role played by policies pursued at the European Union (EU) level, using the competitiveness framework as the conceptual lens. Design/methodology/approach Why has Europe not made more progress on upgrading its competitiveness over the past few decades, despite the many initiatives that the EU has launched? Findings It finds Europe’s sluggish performance to be driven by a failure to adjust the EU’s policy approach to fundamental changes in the competitiveness context and challenges faced by European economies. Originality/value Based on this analysis, the paper suggests a new role for the EU in supporting EU member countries and regions in achieving higher levels of competitiveness.

scholarly journals Dynamics and Factors of Innovation Gap Between the European Union and China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Michał Kowalski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Innovation Policy ◽  
Innovation Systems ◽  
Chinese Economy ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Technological Gap ◽  
Convergence Process ◽  
European Economies ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe article focuses on the problem of innovation gap in the world economy, as there are in general countries with developed national innovation systems, playing the role of technology leaders, and those with developing innovation systems, acting as innovation followers. Western European economies belong usually to the first group whereas China is traditionally classified in the second group; however, the analysis conducted in this study reveals a continuous catch-up process of this country towards the European Union in terms of the level of innovativeness of the economy. The purpose of this paper is to measure the dynamics of innovation gap between China and the EU average, and to identify the determinants of its evolution. Although for most of the analyzed indicators related to innovation, China’s performance is much below the EU average, the growth rates for Chinese economy in 2008–2018 have been higher than these of the EU, indicating convergence process. The key to development success in China lies in closing the technological gap by importing existing technology, and strengthening internal capabilities to utilize and improve on those technologies. Different reasons for China’s economy improvement in terms of innovativeness are analyzed, including external factors (e.g., foreign direct investments, which are concentrated mostly in eastern provinces, and associated technology transfer) and internal aspects (like science, technology and innovation policy, investment in research and development, and emergence of innovative regional clusters). The conclusion is that dynamic processes of increasing innovative potential of China provide with a solid fundamental for further convergence and diminishing innovation gap between this country and the European Union.

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