IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i9p4553-d543194.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysis of the Regional Efficiency of European Funds in Spain from the Perspective of Renewable Energy Production: The Regional Dimension

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Mugambi

    (Doctoral School of International Relations and Political Science, Corvinus University of Budapest, 1093 Budapest, Hungary)

  • Miguel Blanco

    (Department of General Economics, University of Cadiz, 11002 Cádiz, Spain)

  • Daniel Ogachi

    (Doctoral School of Economics and Regional Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Science, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary)

  • Marcos Ferasso

    (Institute of Scientific Research and Graduate School, Universidad de Lima, Lima 15023, Peru)

  • Lydia Bares

    (Department of General Economics, University of Cadiz, 11002 Cádiz, Spain)

Abstract

During the 2010–2020 period, the European Union (EU) launched a growth strategy based on three fundamental pillars: smart growth, sustainable growth, and inclusive growth. Aiming to finance the projects related to these growth pillars, the EU used mainly the Rural Development Funds, the Structural Funds, those derived from the R&D Framework Program, the Trans-European Networks, and the European Investment Bank. This research aimed to determine whether the Spanish regions maintain homogeneous efficiency levels by using these resources to improve the levels of environmental quality related to renewable energies. A methodology that is frequently used by researchers in efficiency analyses was chosen, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The main findings revealed that the efficiency in the use of renewable energies is very uneven among the Spanish regions and these differences are maintained throughout the period analyzed. These results highlighted the need of changes regarding the proposed criteria for allocating European resources to finance the projects presented by each Spanish region.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Mugambi & Miguel Blanco & Daniel Ogachi & Marcos Ferasso & Lydia Bares, 2021. "Analysis of the Regional Efficiency of European Funds in Spain from the Perspective of Renewable Energy Production: The Regional Dimension," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4553-:d:543194
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4553/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4553/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sun, Huaping & Edziah, Bless Kofi & Kporsu, Anthony Kwaku & Sarkodie, Samuel Asumadu & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2021. "Energy efficiency: The role of technological innovation and knowledge spillover," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    2. Suzuki, Soushi & Nijkamp, Peter, 2016. "An evaluation of energy-environment-economic efficiency for EU, APEC and ASEAN countries: Design of a Target-Oriented DFM model with fixed factors in Data Envelopment Analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 100-112.
    3. Andres RodrIguez-Pose & Ugo Fratesi†, 2004. "Between Development and Social Policies: The Impact of European Structural Funds in Objective 1 Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 97-113.
    4. Bande, Roberto & Fernández, Melchor & Montuenga, Víctor, 2008. "Regional unemployment in Spain: Disparities, business cycle and wage setting," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 885-914, October.
    5. Mousavi-Avval, Seyed Hashem & Rafiee, Shahin & Jafari, Ali & Mohammadi, Ali, 2011. "Improving energy use efficiency of canola production using data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2765-2772.
    6. Sandy Dall'erba & Julie Le Gallo, 2008. "Regional convergence and the impact of European structural funds over 1989–1999: A spatial econometric analysis," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(2), pages 219-244, June.
    7. Shi, Guang-Ming & Bi, Jun & Wang, Jin-Nan, 2010. "Chinese regional industrial energy efficiency evaluation based on a DEA model of fixing non-energy inputs," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 6172-6179, October.
    8. Duan, Na & Guo, Jun-Peng & Xie, Bai-Chen, 2016. "Is there a difference between the energy and CO2 emission performance for China’s thermal power industry? A bootstrapped directional distance function approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1552-1563.
    9. Agovino, M. & Casaccia, M. & Crociata, A. & Sacco, P.L., 2019. "European Regional Development Fund and pro-environmental behaviour. The case of Italian separate waste collection," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 36-50.
    10. Roberto Esposti & Stefania Bussoletti, 2008. "Impact of Objective 1 Funds on Regional Growth Convergence in the European Union: A Panel-data Approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 159-173.
    11. Lin, Boqiang & Du, Kerui, 2015. "Energy and CO2 emissions performance in China's regional economies: Do market-oriented reforms matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 113-124.
    12. Xiao-Ning Li & Ying Feng & Pei-Ying Wu & Yung-Ho Chiu, 2021. "An Analysis of Environmental Efficiency and Environmental Pollution Treatment Efficiency in China’s Industrial Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-25, February.
    13. Khoshnevisan, Benyamin & Rafiee, Shahin & Omid, Mahmoud & Mousazadeh, Hossein, 2013. "Reduction of CO2 emission by improving energy use efficiency of greenhouse cucumber production using DEA approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 676-682.
    14. Wang, Ke & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2014. "China’s regional industrial energy efficiency and carbon emissions abatement costs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 617-631.
    15. Ouyang, Wendi & Yang, Jian-bo, 2020. "The network energy and environment efficiency analysis of 27 OECD countries: A multiplicative network DEA model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    16. Xiaowei Song & Yongpei Hao & Xiaodong Zhu, 2015. "Analysis of the Environmental Efficiency of the Chinese Transportation Sector Using an Undesirable Output Slacks-Based Measure Data Envelopment Analysis Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-20, July.
    17. Mihail Busu & Carmen Lenuta Trica, 2019. "Sustainability of Circular Economy Indicators and Their Impact on Economic Growth of the European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-13, October.
    18. Carmen Lenuta Trica & Cristian Silviu Banacu & Mihail Busu, 2019. "Environmental Factors and Sustainability of the Circular Economy Model at the European Union Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, February.
    19. Chen, Weidong & Geng, Wenxin, 2017. "Fossil energy saving and CO2 emissions reduction performance, and dynamic change in performance considering renewable energy input," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 283-292.
    20. Dong Tian & Fengtao Zhao & Weisong Mu & Radoslava Kanianska & Jianying Feng, 2016. "Environmental Efficiency of Chinese Open-Field Grape Production: An Evaluation Using Data Envelopment Analysis and Spatial Autocorrelation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-13, November.
    21. Pedro Sánchez-Zamora & Rosa Gallardo-Cobos, 2019. "Diversity, Disparity and Territorial Resilience in the Context of the Economic Crisis: An Analysis of Rural Areas in Southern Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-21, March.
    22. Bian, Yiwen & He, Ping & Xu, Hao, 2013. "Estimation of potential energy saving and carbon dioxide emission reduction in China based on an extended non-radial DEA approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 962-971.
    23. Tianbo Tang & Jianxin You & Hui Sun & Hao Zhang, 2019. "Transportation Efficiency Evaluation Considering the Environmental Impact for China’s Freight Sector: A Parallel Data Envelopment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-24, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marko Šostar & Vladimir Ristanović & Chamaru de Alwis, 2023. "Application of Successful EU Funds Absorption Models to Sustainable Regional Development," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-27, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abbas Mardani & Dalia Streimikiene & Tomas Balezentis & Muhamad Zameri Mat Saman & Khalil Md Nor & Seyed Meysam Khoshnava, 2018. "Data Envelopment Analysis in Energy and Environmental Economics: An Overview of the State-of-the-Art and Recent Development Trends," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, August.
    2. Marcos Ferasso & Miguel Blanco & Lydia Bares, 2021. "A Data Envelopment Analysis of the Impact of European Funds on Environmental Indicators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Yuan, Yan & Goto, Mika, 2017. "A literature study for DEA applied to energy and environment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 104-124.
    4. Mardani, Abbas & Zavadskas, Edmundas Kazimieras & Streimikiene, Dalia & Jusoh, Ahmad & Khoshnoudi, Masoumeh, 2017. "A comprehensive review of data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in energy efficiency," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1298-1322.
    5. Fei, Rilong & Lin, Boqiang, 2016. "Energy efficiency and production technology heterogeneity in China's agricultural sector: A meta-frontier approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 25-34.
    6. Meng, Fanyi & Su, Bin & Thomson, Elspeth & Zhou, Dequn & Zhou, P., 2016. "Measuring China’s regional energy and carbon emission efficiency with DEA models: A survey," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1-21.
    7. Salima Bouayad-Agha & Nadine Turpin & Lionel Védrine, 2010. "Fostering the potential endogenous development of European regions: a spatial dynamic panel data analysis of the Cohesion Policy on regional convergence over the period 1980-2005," TEPP Working Paper 2010-17, TEPP.
    8. Fusaro, Stefano & Scandurra, Rosario, 2023. "The impact of the European social fund on youth education and employment," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Chang, Ming-Chung, 2016. "Applying the energy productivity index that considers maximized energy reduction on SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) members," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 313-323.
    10. Pritpal Singh & Gurdeep Singh & G. P. S. Sodhi, 2022. "Data envelopment analysis based optimization for improving net ecosystem carbon and energy budget in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivation: methods and a case study of north-western India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 2079-2119, February.
    11. Ze Tian & Fang-Rong Ren & Qin-Wen Xiao & Yung-Ho Chiu & Tai-Yu Lin, 2019. "Cross-Regional Comparative Study on Carbon Emission Efficiency of China’s Yangtze River Economic Belt Based on the Meta-Frontier," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-19, February.
    12. Ma, Ding & Fei, Rilong & Yu, Yongsheng, 2019. "How government regulation impacts on energy and CO2 emissions performance in China's mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 651-663.
    13. Yu, Junqing & Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin, 2019. "Regional heterogeneity of China's energy efficiency in “new normal”: A meta-frontier Super-SBM analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    14. Mindaugas Butkus & Alma Maciulyte-Sniukiene & Kristina Matuzeviciute, 2020. "Heterogeneous growth outcomes of the EU’s regional financial support mediated by institutions with some empirical evidences at NUTS 3 level," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 40(1), pages 33-66, April.
    15. Fratesi, Ugo & Perucca, Giovanni, 2014. "Territorial Capital and the Effectiveness of Cohesion Policies: an Assessment for CEE Regions," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 29, pages 165-191.
    16. Carlos San Juan Mesonada & Carlos Sunyer Manteiga, 2021. "European Structural Funds and Resilient and Recovery Facility Governance," EconPol Working Paper 67, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    17. Ferraro, Aniello & Cerciello, Massimiliano & Agovino, Massimiliano & Garofalo, Antonio, 2021. "Do public policies reduce social exclusion? The role of national and supranational economic tools," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 165-181.
    18. Guilherme Resende, 2011. "Evaluating Micro and Macro Effects of Regional Development Policies: The Case of the Northeast Regional Fund (FNE) in Brazil, 2000-2006," ERSA conference papers ersa10p853, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Ying Li & Yung-Ho Chiu & Liang Chun Lu, 2018. "Regional Energy, CO 2 , and Economic and Air Quality Index Performances in China: A Meta-Frontier Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-20, August.
    20. POP Andrada, 2020. "Eu Funding €“ A Positive Impact On Gdp?," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 89-98, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4553-:d:543194. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.