Waste Generation and Disposal: A Multi-Tasking Approach to Policy Effectiveness

This paper assesses the effectiveness of Italian waste management policies over the period 1999-2008 both in increasing separate collection and in reducing waste generation, using as a theoretical framework the Multi-tasking model (Holmstrom and Milgrom, 1991). The main results show that the TIA (Municipal Waste Tariff) and the Italian landfill tax do not affect the amount of waste generated in Italy. Moreover, we show that both models of "pro-social behaviour" (Bènabou and Tirole, 2006) and "warm-glow giving" (Andreoni, 1989; 1990) can provide useful insight into the role of social capital in the waste sector.