Are they Twins or Only Friends? The Redundancy and Complementarity of Energy Poverty Indicators in Italy

Rossella Bardazzi, Luca Bortolotti () and Maria Grazia Pazienza
Additional contact information
Luca Bortolotti: University of Bologna

Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, 2024, vol. 10, issue 2, No 5, 585-623

Abstract: Abstract A large body of literature has developed numerous unidimensional and multidimensional indicators to identify energy-poor households, also with the aim of targeting public policies. They all have pros and cons and may identify different populations. How do they relate to each other? How should they be used in a country such as Italy where energy poverty has not yet been officially defined? We frame these research questions in a context of general social vulnerability in which several dimensions of poverty intersect. Using SILC data (EU and IT modules) for the period 2004–2015 we compare four widely used unidimensional indicators and provide evidence—for the Italian case—that complementarity among the indicators prevails since the complexity of energy poverty requires a combination of metrics to capture various vulnerabilities. Our results confirm the set of relevant factors affecting the probability of being energy poor which are indicated in the related economics literature, regardless of which indicator is used. They may help tailor policies to tackle the phenomenon. Based on these findings, we strongly support the idea of using a dashboard of different metrics to measure energy poverty to design effective policies.

Keywords: Energy poverty; Energy poverty indicators; Hidden energy poverty; Energy vulnerability; SDG 7; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C31 C38 I32 Q41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40797-023-00246-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:italej:v:10:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s40797-023-00246-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/40797

DOI: 10.1007/s40797-023-00246-2

Access Statistics for this article

Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti is currently edited by Roberto Cellini

More articles in Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti from Springer, Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().