Multilevel Quality of Government and eco-productivity convergence in Europe

Marc Aliana (), Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll (), Diego Prior () and Emili Tortosa-Ausina
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Marc Aliana: Department of Finance and Accounting, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain
Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll: Department of Finance and Accounting, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain
Diego Prior: Department of Business, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

No 2026/05, Working Papers from Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain)

Abstract: This paper examines eco-productivity convergence across European Union regions while explicitly incorporating institutional quality within a multilevel governance framework. Using a panel of 216 NUTS-2 regions over the period 2010–2023, we analyse whether regions converge in their ability to generate economic output while limiting environmental pressures, and how this process is shaped by both national and regional Quality of Government (QoG). Ecoproductivity is measured using a nonparametric frontier approach based on Data Envelopment Analysis, with labour and capital as inputs, GDP as a desirable output, and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, transformed into an outputoriented ‘GHG savings’ indicator. The results show that average eco-productivity levels are around 8% higher when QoG is accounted for, cross-regional dispersion is considerably lower, and β-convergence is consistently stronger and statistically significant across all subperiods. Overall, eco-productivity convergence is associated with QoG, suggesting that sustainable regional catch-up is more likely where green investment is matched by improvements in institutional quality.

Keywords: Cohesion Policy; Eco-productivity convergence; Multilevel governance; Quality of Government. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C14 C61 O18 Q56 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2026
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