The Center for Italian Studies is pleased to announce a lecture by Professor Marco Grazzi, the Italian Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Humanities and Social Science, titled: 

Extended producer responsibility and trade flows in waste: The case of batteries

In the debate on international waste trade, the focus on resource efficiency and recycling has gradually begun to accompany the focus on negative environmental externalities. In this context, we examine the impact of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) on the export of waste batteries (WB). EPR is considered as a key policy for the “marketization of waste”. On the other hand, WB are a hazardous waste that also contain a high concentration of critical raw materials. As such, they are of strategic importance for the recovery of critical resources, while at the same time requiring proper environmental management. Therefore, it is crucial to understand where WB are treated and how this is affected by related policies. Our results, based on difference-in-difference models in a gravity framework, show a consistent increase in WB exports after EPR implementation compared to the trend for other wastes. This result is likely to be an indirect consequence of the ability of EPR to support growth in waste collection rates, more accurate tracking of transboundary waste flows, and specialization of national waste management systems. In particular, EPR exports appear to be directed to countries with more advanced waste management systems rather than to developing countries.

Marco Grazzi is a full professor in Economic Policy. He obtained his PhD from the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa) and his research has been published in various scientific journals, including Industrial and Corporate Change, Journal of Industrial Economics, Small Business Economics, Research Policy, and Review of Economics and Statistics. His research interests focus on the role of companies in determining the dynamics observed at the aggregate level of industrial sectors and countries. To achieve this goal, his works address various theoretical and empirical aspects, including international trade, firm growth and innovation, and production analysis. He is involved in various editorial activities, serving as an associate editor for Industrial and Corporate Change and Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, as well as being on the Editorial Review Board for Small Business Economics. He has been a visiting scholar at various foreign universities, including the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Cambridge (UK), and EPFL Lausanne (CH). He has participated in several research projects funded by national institutions (MIUR, banking foundations) and international entities (EU-EC H2020). His personal website, with links to publications, is available here.