Tuscan Municipalities Research Articles

The economic and environmental effects of seasonality of tourism: A look at solid waste

Tourism brings great opportunities of growth with relatively small investments in physical and human capital, but it also comes with important negative externalities. This paper looks at the environmental cost of tourism in terms of solid waste produced in municipalities. Using the Data Envelopment Analysis developed by Charnes et al. (1978) and Banker et al. (1984), the paper estimates the efficiency of Tuscan municipalities in waste management and relates this measure to spatial and touristic variables. The scale of operations is also considered to see if tourism seasonality has an impact on the ability to operate at optimal scale. The empirical analysis suggests that seasonality has a negative effect on the efficiency of solid waste management and that this effect is primarily due to difficulties in operating at optimal scale. The seasonality of presences has a strongly negative impact on efficiency while tourists’ average stay has a positive effect once scale effects are considered. The implications are that more effort should be made to flexibly manage waste collection in localities affected by seasonal tourism and reduce seasonality by incentivizing visitors to stay longer, for example by introducing a flexible tourist taxation as a function of presences and duration of stay.

Factors affecting eco-efficiency of municipal waste services in Tuscan municipalities: An empirical investigation of different management models

The efficient provision of municipal solid waste (MSW) services is essential from an economic and environmental perspective. This paper investigates the effect of ownership type on the eco-efficiency of MSW management in Tuscan municipalities. In the first stage of the analysis, the authors use a data envelopment analysis metafrontier approach with the integration of unsorted waste as an undesirable output. Three different clusters of municipalities are created based on the ownership type of the municipal waste operators: public, private, and mixed. In the second stage of analysis, the paper investigates factors affecting eco-efficiency in order to provide new knowledge that can be used by policy and decision makers to improve eco-efficiency. The results show that eco-efficiency is higher for municipalities that entrust the delivery of waste services to publicly owned firms compared to municipalities with delivery by mixed and private firms. Moreover, eco-efficiency in MSW management is higher for municipalities with younger residents, a larger population, and an overall higher population density. Smaller municipalities and those with less tourism manage their waste services more eco-efficiently than do bigger municipalities and those with more tourism. The results indicate that policy-makers should improve communication and engagement activities with older residents in smaller, less densely populated areas. In municipalities featuring heavy tourism, eco-taxes could be used to support these activities, avoiding any impact on residents.

Seeking Gastronomic, Healthy, and Social Experiences in Tuscan Agritourism Facilities

There is a growing desire among tourists to improve their lifestyle and pass their vacations in areas with a strong local gastronomic heritage. Indeed, one of the most important factors that drives visitors to choose an agritourism facility for their vacation is the pull of good food and wine. This manuscript examines visitors’ evaluations of their time spent in Tuscan agritourism facilities with particular focus on the cuisine, the health benefits, and the social experience. The analysis is based on a representative sample of 1886 reviews posted by visitors from all over of the world on the websites of 60 agritourism facilities that operate in Tuscan municipalities. By exploring visitor evaluations, which consist of an overall rating of their agritourism experience and separate ratings for the cuisine, the physical environment, and the service, this paper expands the scope of previous studies into food and drink management development as a way of attracting new visitors, by providing additional information on the distinctive characteristics of the local cuisine on offer. Results indicate that visitors—above all families—prefer an agritourism facility that offers authentic local cuisine and beverages and also offers them the possibility of spending time outdoors in destinations with a rich culinary heritage. Visibility of the main attractive attributes of agritourism facilities and the local cuisine through websites is needed in order to drive consumers in their vacation choices and to allow these structures to consolidate their place in the food and drink market.

Improving waste production and recycling through zero-waste strategy and privatization: An empirical investigation

Using a large 2012–2015 cross-sectional dataset for all 279 municipalities in Tuscany, Italy (the location of the first municipality in Europe to adopt a zero-waste strategy in 2007), this study investigates whether and how municipal waste production and re-cycling activities are related to two waste management policies of municipalities: the adoption of a zero-waste strategy and ownership type of the entity entrusted with urban waste management services. Population density, the municipal average age of inhabitants, municipality area, and the average taxable income of individuals per capita are considered as control variables in the panel data regression models. The study demonstrates the relevance of municipal policies on waste management performance. Specifically, the results show that municipal waste production is higher when urban waste services are managed by privately owned companies, as well as when the average taxable income of individuals per capita is lower. The adoption of a zero-waste strategy by municipalities significantly improves the separate collection rate in Tuscan municipalities. Municipalities that have entrusted solid waste collection and disposal services to mixed-owned firms have lower rates of separate collection than do municipalities that directly manage the service or entrust it to publicly owned firms. Furthermore, the separate collection rate is higher where population density and the average taxable income of individuals per capita are higher. The analysis helps policy and decision makers to identify policies with higher probabilities of reducing waste production and improving the separate collection rate, thereby reaching high standards of waste reduction and recycling.

Risorse, esperienza e caratteristiche dell'amministrazione dietro i fondi comunitari dei comuni. La capacità di assorbimento delle amministrazioni nel caso toscano

The aim of the paper is to explain what are the determinants of Tuscan municipalities’ absorption capacity of European Structural Funds. For this purpose we use a hurdle model which consists of two parts. Firstly, a binary logistic model is used to estimate the probability that a municipality gets at least one project financed with EU structural funds. Secondly, a regression with negative binomial distribution is estimated only for municipalities with at least one project financed, in order to identify the determinants of the number of projects. The results show that the probability of access to at least one European project is mainly influenced by three factors: the demographic size of the municipality, the experience in previous programming cycles and by the geographic area. When it comes to the determinants of the number of projects financed (for those municipalities which got at least one project financed), other factors play an important role. One of these is the adequacy of civil servants both in terms of size and quality, the latter measured by the incidence of graduated civil servants in the municipality. Also economic and financial factors impact on the number of projects financed at the municipality level: the amount of revenues has a positive effect while the presence of deficit and Internal Stability Pact constraints seem to have a negative impact. Even political stability finally appears to have a positive role in the municipality absorption capacity of Structural Funds.

Mortality of populations residing in geothermal areas of Tuscany during the period 2003-2012.

The limited scientific knowledge on the relationship between exposure and health effects in relation to geothermal activity motivated an epidemiologic investigation of Tuscan geothermal area. This study aims at describing mortality of populations living in Tuscan municipalities in the period 2003-2012. Sixteen municipalities were included in the study area: eight in the northern and eight in the southern area. Mortality data come from the Regional Mortality Registry of Tuscany. Fifty-four causes of death, considered of interest for population health status or consistent with "Project SENTIERI" criteria, are analyzed. Results show a worse mortality profile in the southern area, especially in males, for whom excesses of all cancers and some causes of cancer emerge, while in the northern area an excess of cerebrovascular diseases among females merits attention. Further and more appropriate studies are needed to clarify the etiology of some diseases and to better assess a potential cause-effect relationship.

Global public spending efficiency in Tuscan municipalities

The paper presents a Data Envelopment Analysis aimed at studying the efficiency of Tuscan municipalities' public expenditure. Five strategic functions of Tuscan municipalities are first considered carrying out a non-aggregate analysis; then the overall expenditure composition of each municipality and the global spending efficiency are analysed by a proposed composite indicator. The main determinants affecting the municipalities' efficiency were further investigated. In particular, the obtained results may be consistently included in the long-standing debate on the municipal size, proving that the bigger the municipality, the greater its level of public expenditure efficiency.

Lung Cancer Mortality Patterns in Women Resident in Different Urbanization Areas in Central Italy from 1987–2002

The aim of the study was to evaluate mortality lung cancer trends, as an indicator of female smoking trends, in women resident in different urbanization areas. Data on the 5782 female lung cancer deaths that occurred in Tuscany, Italy, during the period 1987-2002 were analyzed, using age-period-cohort models by areas at different urbanization levels. Trends were examined with a log-linear regression model, calculating the yearly estimated percent change. Empirical bayesian estimators of the ratios between observed and expected deaths by municipality were calculated for the most recent period and mapped. The age-adjusted lung cancer mortality rates increased from 1987 to 2002: estimated percentage change values were equal to 24.5% in the urban areas (P < 0.001) and 17.2% in the rural areas (P = 0.023). The age-period-cohort model analyses showed a statistically significant drift and non-linear cohort effects. The higher risk was observed for the birth cohort of women born around 1955 (RR, 5.25; 95% CI, 2.83-9.72). In the rural areas, no significant effects were observed, and the age model showed the best fit. In recent years, the risk appeared concentrated in 9 Tuscan municipalities, accounting more than 35% of the female urban population. The observed significant cohort effect in the age-period-cohort analyses for the urban areas reflects the social impact of living in these areas to induce smoking-related disease like lung cancer in women. The risk appeared particularly relevant in more recent and urbanized generations (women born around 1955), thereby suggesting urgent effective campaigns against smoking, gender dedicated, especially in urban areas.