Catching-up in waste management. Evidence from the EU

This work tests for the presence of convergence in the main municipal solid waste\r\ndisposal choices across EU countries over the years 1995–2010. We believe this is a\r\nrelevant exercise, considering that in the last two decades the waste sector has\r\nexperienced a profound transformation at the European level. In this context, b and s\r\ntests of convergence can tell us more about the distribution of these different rival\r\nchoices of waste disposal, by assessing on the one hand the presence of convergence\r\nand, on the other hand, the role played by environmental policy and green\r\ntechnological change in driving convergence. Our regression results suggest that\r\nconditional beta convergence is substantial for both recycling and incineration. For the\r\ncase of recycling, this convergence is faster for countries characterised by a\r\ntechnological endowment in recycling technologies and stringent waste policies.\r\nFinally, heterogeneity across countries (sigma convergence) appears to decrease over\r\ntime.