Evaluating environmental and regional policies in the European union through the use of environmental quality indices

Abstract

This chapter uses an amenity-productivity theoretical framework to classify European Union sub-group of countries (EU-27, Eurozone-16, EU-15) according to the extent to which they are influenced by supply-side (producer) and demand-side (consumer) responses to their specific bundle of economic and environmental attributes. The assessment of the environmental quality in each state is based on the development of environmental indices. This kind of classification is useful because it provides information about the relative attractiveness to producers and consumers of the combination of economic and environmental attributes indigenous to each region. It therefore has implications for the design and focus of the regional and environmental policies of the European Union and the Eurozone. © 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.