Pasquale Marcello Falcone

56452747700

Publications - 15

Socio-political determinants of circular economy behavior: A cross-sectional analysis across Italy

Cristian Barra Luigi Aldieri Pasquale Marcello Falcone Concetto Paolo Vinci

Publication Name: Socio Economic Planning Sciences

Publication Date: 2025-08-01

Volume: 100

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The circular economy (CE) has emerged as a crucial alternative to the traditional linear economic model, which relies on resource extraction, production, and waste disposal, resulting in significant environmental degradation and resource depletion. In contrast, the CE emphasizes resource efficiency through practices such as reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling, providing both environmental and economic benefits. This study investigates the complex interaction between socio-political factors and individual-level CE practices in Italy, addressing gaps in existing research that primarily focus on specific consumer behaviors or demographic characteristics. Particularly, utilizing probit and multivariate probit analyses on the 2021 AVQ “Aspects of Daily Life” dataset from ISTAT, the research examines how socio-political involvement, budget constraints, positive educational externalities, and demographic factors influence CE behaviors. The findings reveal that socio-political factors, particularly political trust in local governments, significantly influence circular practices, with higher trust associated with greater adoption of sustainable transportation and local products, while lower political engagement correlates with increased waste and reduced sustainability, highlighting the need for targeted educational initiatives and localized policies to promote a circular economy effectively.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.seps.2025.102252

Unveiling latent topics in the interplay of Circular Economy and Energy Transition: A Topic Modelling approach

Pasquale Marcello Falcone Patrizio Giganti

Publication Name: Resources Conservation and Recycling

Publication Date: 2025-06-01

Volume: 219

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The Circular Economy (CE) and Energy Transition (ET) are crucial solutions for addressing global environmental challenges caused by linear economic models and fossil-based energy systems. Both approaches focus on enhancing energy and resource efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts. This Topic Modelling-based review identifies latent topics within the CE and ET academic literature, tackling the challenge of subjectivity found in traditional reviews. Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), six topics are identified. Each topic sheds light on how crucial elements – such as economic and social sustainability, technological innovation, material management and electrification, waste management, local development, and regulatory policies – are interconnected with CE and ET. Together, these elements contribute to a more cohesive and effective transition. The study emphasizes the need for coordinated strategies and targeted policies to ensure that CE and ET not only coexist but also complement and strengthen each other. This holistic approach is vital for fostering a sustainable future that balances economic growth with environmental conservation.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108318

Energy Justice in the 21st century: policy interventions and advocacy for a fair energy transition

Pasquale Marcello Falcone Grazia Errichiello

Publication Name: Aims Environmental Science

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: 12

Issue: 4

Page Range: 594-614

Description:

This article examined the research landscape of energy justice within the social sciences, providing a detailed overview of key developments, trends, and methodologies in this emerging field of study. The study began by identifying the leading journals in the field and mapping co-authorship networks, followed by an analysis of keyword co-occurrences to pinpoint the central themes in the literature. The findings highlight key areas of energy injustice, including accessibility, affordability, and environmental and technological factors. The article further inspected the underlying drivers of these disparities and the actions being taken to address them, emphasizing the critical role of emerging community pressures in shaping policy decisions. Additionally, the study reviewed five case studies that underscore the need for ongoing policy adaptation and illustrate the significant impact of advocacy in the development and implementation of equitable energy policies. The paper concludes by stressing the importance of rethinking current energy policy approaches to create a more inclusive, sustainable, and just energy future.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3934/environsci.2025027

Uncovering network changes in the evolution of an innovation niche

Edgardo Sica Antonio Lopolito Pasquale Marcello Falcone

Publication Name: Social Networks

Publication Date: 2026-01-01

Volume: 84

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 87-100

Description:

The present paper aims at unravelling the networking dynamics regarding the evolution of an innovation-niche, by looking at its network configuration over time. To this end, we investigate the actors’ role within the network as well as the network architecture. We employ the social network analysis (SNA) to four different but interrelated types of networks characterising the Italian biofuel industry. Each network was investigated in both its development and maturity phase. Our findings show that, over the niche evolution, actors established new relations, increasing networks’ density and making the networks more centralized. Furthermore, while two out of four networks confirmed their small world configuration over time, one (i.e. “communication” network) increased its small-world-ness, providing a larger number of information channels and more social reinforcement chances for niche actors to innovate. Overall, results suggest that policy makers should accompany and ease the innovation-niche evolution path by fostering the participation of the laggard behind and actors' clusterization, moderating any possible lock-in risk.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.socnet.2025.08.005

Composition and Determinants of Corporate Climate Lobbying: Evidence From Italy

Mariangela Bonasia Pasquale Marcello Falcone Lilit Popoyan Grazia Errichiello

Publication Name: Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management

Publication Date: 2026-01-01

Volume: 33

Issue: 1

Page Range: 189-216

Description:

This study investigates the determinants of corporate climate-related lobbying in Italy, focusing on firm-level factors that influence lobbying expenditures and participation in European climate policy discussions. Given rising pressure from governments and stakeholders for sustainable practices, corporate lobbying plays a crucial role in shaping European climate policies. Using an unbalanced panel dataset of Italian firms from 2011 to 2023, we employ advanced econometric methods and AI-supported textual analysis to explore lobbying dynamics. The findings indicate that firm revenue is a key driver of lobbying intensity, with larger firms investing more in lobbying activities and engaging more frequently in climate-related discussions. Additionally, regional differences and company size significantly affect lobbying behaviors, highlighting the role of financial resources and institutional context in shaping firms' climate policy engagement. In this, the research contributes to the limited EU-focused literature on corporate lobbying, providing valuable insights into Italy's unique lobbying landscape and its implications for climate governance.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1002/csr.70148

Institutional factors and environmental performance: Insights from global economies

Cristian Barra Pasquale Marcello Falcone

Publication Name: Economic Systems

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: Unknown

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

This study investigates how institutional quality, democratic governance, political orientation and economic policy uncertainty influence environmental performance across different economies globally. Even if there is literature that highlights the importance of strong institutions and democracy for environmental outcomes, empirical evidence remains inconsistent. Using data from 130 countries between 1996 and 2018, we apply a two-stage approach: first, estimating environmental performance via a stochastic frontier, and then analyzing institutional factors with a FEGLS regression and time lags to address endogeneity. The results reveal that strong institutional quality significantly improves environmental performance (β = 0.032), with its impact amplified in countries with medium and high levels of democracy (interaction terms: β = 0.012 and β = 0.010, respectively). While democracy alone exerts a mixed effect, the presence of robust institutions offsets the negative influence of economic policy uncertainty (β = −0.0273). This study provides new insights into the interplay between institutional quality and governance in fostering environmental sustainability. It also offers policy implications for achieving a balance between economic growth and ecological preservation.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2025.101364

How Does State Fragility Drive Environmental Degradation? A Multidimensional Analysis of Governance and Socio-Economic Vulnerabilities

Cristian Barra Pasquale Marcello Falcone Luca Esposito

Publication Name: Kyklos

Publication Date: 2026-05-01

Volume: 79

Issue: 2

Page Range: 399-428

Description:

The growing crises in the environmental sector worldwide have increased the call for better comprehension of the linkage among governance, socio-economic stability, and environmental degradation. In this respect, state fragility—a term covering governance gaps, political instability, and economic turmoil—has emerged as a vital and rather unexplored cause of environmental degradation. This study examines how state fragility drives environmental degradation by analyzing the Fragile States Index (FSI) and PM2.5 air pollution across 130 countries from 2006 to 2020. Using generalized least squares (GLS) and Lewbel (2012) heteroskedasticity-based IV estimators, we disaggregate FSI into cohesion, economic, political, social, and external-intervention dimensions to identify heterogeneous effects. Results show that higher overall fragility is associated with increased PM2.5 and CO2 emissions, with economic and political fragility exerting the strongest positive impacts. Social pressures and external interventions also worsen air quality, while cohesion's effect is context-dependent—positive in baseline GLS but negative after addressing endogeneity—suggesting measurement and endogeneity issues. Controls reveal trade openness tends to raise pollution, whereas FDI and stronger institutions reduce it. Findings are more pronounced in low-income countries, underscoring sample heterogeneity. Policy implications stress strengthening governance, mobilizing green finance, and aligning external assistance with environmental objectives to break the fragility–pollution nexus.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1111/kykl.70031

Institutional quality and the environment–finance nexus: evidence from global economies

Cristian Barra Pasquale Marcello Falcone

Publication Name: Environment and Development Economics

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: Unknown

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

This study examines the intricate relationship between financial development, institutional quality and environmental efficiency. While financial development has the potential to support environmental sustainability, concerns remain regarding its unintended negative effects through unchecked economic expansion. The objective of this research is to investigate how financial development affects environmental efficiency and to assess the moderating role of institutional quality, particularly when financial development proxies reflect financial market accessibility and efficiency. Using a directional distance function within a stochastic frontier framework and incorporating multiple financial development indicators alongside measures of institutional quality, we find that financial development significantly reduces environmental inefficiency, with institutional quality strengthening this effect. These results highlight the importance of policy approaches that simultaneously enhance financial development and institutional quality. Furthermore, our findings support targeted initiatives such as promoting green finance, building institutional capacity and investing in research and data infrastructure to inform evidence-based policymaking for sustainable development.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1017/S1355770X25100375

Doing more with less: the role of institutional quality in enhancing energy efficiency in Italy’s “hard-to-abate” sectors

Cristian Barra Pasquale Marcello Falcone Patrizio Giganti

Publication Name: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics

Publication Date: 2026-01-01

Volume: Unknown

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

This paper investigates the role of institutional quality in enhancing energy efficiency within Italy’s “hard-to-abate” industrial sectors, which include cement and lime, glass and ceramics, metal, pulp and paper, and refineries. These sectors account for a significant share of global energy consumption and CO2 emissions and face unique challenges in decarbonization. Using a novel dataset from the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), covering 329 Italian plants from 2013 to 2019, the study applies the Directional Distance Function (DDF) to measure energy efficiency and explores the impact of institutional quality on energy performance through Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) regression. The analysis highlights greater energy efficiency among multi-plant firms, firms in the pulp and paper sector, and firms located in Central Italy. Regression results further show that institutional quality has a significant positive effect on energy efficiency, especially in competitive markets, among multi-plant and non-innovative firms, in Northern regions, and in the glass and ceramics and metal sectors. This paper contributes to the literature by underscoring the importance of institutional quality in driving energy efficiency in energy-intensive sectors and offers policy implications for promoting industrial decarbonization.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1007/s40812-025-00387-8

Urbanization, Industrialization, and Energy Transition: An Empirical Analysis of Life Expectancy in a Developing Economy

Pasquale Marcello Falcone Md Hasanur Rahman Fariha Akter Lucky Syeda Sajia Afroz Rumpa

Publication Name: Sustainable Development

Publication Date: 2026-01-01

Volume: Unknown

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Urbanization is a defining feature of contemporary development, shaping economic opportunities, social structures, and health outcomes. This study examines the influence of urbanization on life expectancy in Bangladesh, with particular attention to the role of the energy mix and industrialization. Using annual data from 1971 to 2024 and applying the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model based on results of the unit root test, where some variables are stationary at level I(0) and some are at first difference I(1), the analysis explores both short- and long-run dynamics. The results indicate that a 1% increase in urbanization raises life expectancy by 0.09% in the short run. Moreover, non-renewable energy consumption and industrialization are found to exert a positive impact on life expectancy due to extensive contribution to national development, where industrialization depends on energy consumption and industrialization leads the economic development in Bangladesh. On the other hand, renewable energy has failed to raise life expectancy due to lack of renewable energy access in Bangladesh. In addition, in the long run, urbanization has a positive impact, where a 1% increase of urbanization leads to raise life expectancy 0.10%. By linking urbanization, energy use, and industrial development, this research addresses a gap in the literature regarding their combined effect on human longevity in developing contexts. The study's findings have suggested policy implications for developing countries to improve urban residents' life expectancy by considering the aim of sustainable development goals (SDGs) 3, 7, and 11.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1002/sd.70825

Rising from the pandemic: do ESG factors matter for resiliency in the Italian Stock Market?

Edgardo Sica Antonio Lopolito Pasquale Marcello Falcone

Publication Name: International Journal of Green Economics

Publication Date: 2026-01-01

Volume: 20

Issue: 1

Page Range: 14-26

Description:

This study examines the resilience of ESG investments across different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the Italian Stock Exchange. We compare the performance of firms included in the MIB ESG index with a carefully stratified control group of non-ESG companies. Using a network analysis approach, the results show a higher degree of resilience among ESG assets, particularly in the post-lockdown phase, when they exhibited a faster and stronger recovery than traditional investments. The findings suggest that firm-level commitments to environmental responsibility, social engagement, and sound governance can enhance market robustness during periods of uncertainty and stress. By providing empirical evidence on the stabilising role of ESG practices, the study contributes to the sustainable finance literature and improves understanding of the relationship between ESG investing and market dynamics. The analysis identifies consumer discretionary, healthcare, and technology as the sectors that benefited most from ESG adoption during the recovery phase.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1504/IJGE.2026.151901

Springing into sustainability: Assessing experiential learning outcomes for circular economy competences

Ilaria Tutore Pasquale Marcello Falcone Laura Chianese

Publication Name: Journal of Cleaner Production

Publication Date: 2026-03-22

Volume: 552

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

In higher education, equipping students with the competences to navigate complex sustainability challenges is increasingly critical. This study investigates the impact of the “Circular Spring” – a project-based initiative held at the University of Naples Parthenope, which integrates interdisciplinary seminars with a student-led circular economy (CE) contest. The study examines how experiential learning fosters sustainability-related competences defined in UNESCO's Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) framework and transformative capacities framed by the Inner Development Goals (IDGs). Results indicate that participants show significant gains in cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral dimensions, including systems thinking, critical reflection, collaboration, self-awareness, empathy, and resilience, which can be mapped onto key ESD competence domains and IDG dimensions such as Being, Relating and Acting. These findings provide empirical evidence that experiential programs can support the joint development of sustainability competences and IDG-related inner capacities and offer a structured lens for assessing how higher education initiatives contribute to holistic sustainability learning and the design of circular economy education.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.147964

The role of democracy and institutional quality on environmental performance: empirical evidence using a stochastic directional distance model

Cristian Barra Pasquale Marcello Falcone

Publication Name: Economics of Governance

Publication Date: 2026-12-01

Volume: 27

Issue: 1

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

This paper investigates the role of institutional quality and democratic governance in enhancing environmental performance across global economies. As countries confront escalating environmental challenges, understanding these factors is crucial for achieving sustainable development. Despite existing literature emphasizing the importance of high-quality institutions and democratic governance in improving environmental performance, empirical evidence remains inconsistent. Our study refines this understanding by exploring how specific dimensions of institutional quality and varying degrees of democracy impact environmental performance. Basically, we use a stochastic directional distance model to assess how democracy and institutional quality directly affect environmental performance in an unbalanced heterogeneous sample (127 economies) between 1996 and 2018. We find that high institutional quality generally improves environmental performance, though its impact varies with different degrees of democracy. The synergy between higher institutional quality and democratic governance enhances environmental performance, though the effects’ magnitude and direction are context-dependent. This paper provides new insights into how institutional quality and democratic governance work together to enhance environmental performance, offering valuable implications for policy development aimed at balancing economic growth with ecological sustainability.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1007/s10101-026-00353-7

Assessing the impact of climate policy uncertainty on lobbying: An empirical analysis of European countries

Cristian Barra Pasquale Marcello Falcone Patrizio Giganti Grazia Errichiello

Publication Name: Ecological Economics

Publication Date: 2026-07-01

Volume: 245

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Climate policies are a key focus of the European Union's political agenda. Lobbyists aim to exert influence on these policies to advance their interests. This paper uses a panel dataset from 2011 to 2022 of European organizations to investigate the relationship between Climate Policy Uncertainty (CPU) and Lobbying Expenditure (LE). The dataset includes annual observations from organizations across eight European countries, incorporating both microeconomic and macroeconomic factors. The results indicate a positive association between CPU and LE, suggesting that higher levels of CPU are systematically linked to increased lobbying efforts within our sample. This relationship remains robust after addressing potential endogeneity concerns using the Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) approach. The effect is particularly pronounced in countries with high GDP or high CO₂ emissions, as well as for organizations with lower participation in European Commission meetings. The study also examined the presence of an exogenous shock, specifically the COVID-19 pandemic. While COVID-19 did not alter the existing relationship between CPU and LE, an analysis focused on the pandemic period revealed a reversal in the relationship. These findings carry important policy implications. Governments should prioritize transparency in lobbying activities and address the regulatory challenges posed by CPU to uphold accountability, balance diverse organizational interests, and safeguard the integrity of climate policymaking.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2026.108996

Exploring public discourse on green hydrogen via YouTube comments: A comparative sentiment analysis using VADER and ChatGPT

Pasquale Marcello Falcone Patrizio Giganti Grazia Errichiello

Publication Name: Economic Analysis and Policy

Publication Date: 2025-12-01

Volume: 88

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 2012-2030

Description:

This study investigates public attitudes toward green hydrogen (GH) by analyzing YouTube comments through sentiment analysis and topic modelling. Unlike previous research that situates hydrogen within broader climate or energy debates and focuses on platforms such as Twitter or Bilibili, this work examines GH as a standalone topic and leverages YouTube's longer, context-rich comments to capture richer public discourse. Comments were collected via the YouTube API (Application Programming Interface) from a curated set of videos and analyzed for sentiment using both the rule-based VADER (Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner) and the generative model ChatGPT-3.5, enabling a qualitative comparison of their performance. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was then applied to identify major discussion themes, which were subsequently linked to sentiment trends. The results indicate that ChatGPT-3.5 outperforms VADER in interpreting sarcasm, slang, emoticons, and mixed sentiments. Topic modelling revealed eight key themes, including skepticism about institutional barriers and costs, optimism regarding GH's role in hard-to-decarbonize sectors, comparisons with nuclear energy and electric vehicles, and concerns about environmental and technical challenges. Overall, the study enhances understanding of online public discourse on GH by demonstrating how advanced sentiment analysis tools, combined with topic modelling, can generate deeper insights to inform strategies that better integrate public perceptions with the economic and policy conditions of GH deployment.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2025.11.014