Arbeitspapier

Analysis of Public Subsidies to the Solar Energy Sector: Corruption and the Role of Institutions

This study investigates the connection between rent-seeking behaviour, corruption activity and quality of institutions to empirically evaluate the unexpected implications of an energy policy for criminal activity. The object of this research is a program of public subsidies introduced in Italy in 2005, which successfully boosted the solar energy sector but seems to have generated a growth of corruption activity, arisen from the opportunity of rent extraction. In particular, according to the main hypothesis of this research, bribery is expected to rise significantly where big photovoltaic plants are concentrated and administrative procedures are more complicated. To determine the causal effect of the subsidies on corruption, the study employs a Difference-in-Difference methodology on a sample of 76 Italian provinces and exploits solar radiation as exogenous variable to discriminate the profitability of investments and bribing. Results confirm that, in poor-institutions areas, the growth of the solar sector in sunniest provinces has gone hand in hand with increasing corruption. Results suggest that policy makers should pay additional attention to the potential distortions of public policies implying large rent opportunities, in areas where the weakness of institutional settings and the bureaucratic complexities encourage illegal behaviour.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: Nota di Lavoro ; No. 33.2017

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
Other Economic Systems: Performance and Prospects
Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
Thema
Renewable Energy
Corruption
Public Subsidies
Legal Institutions

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Moliterni, Fabio
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)
(wo)
Milano
(wann)
2017

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:45 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Moliterni, Fabio
  • Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)

Entstanden

  • 2017

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