Abstract: 

This seminar examines how agriculture, livestock production, and renewable energy shape the relationship between economic growth and environmental outcomes across different economic contexts. The analysis draws on evidence from OECD countries, Central Asian economies, and Southeast Asian countries. The results show that sectoral effects are far from uniform. In OECD countries, agricultural production is associated with lower CO₂ emissions, while livestock production does not appear to have a statistically significant effect on CO₂.

At the same time, both agriculture and livestock are positively associated with economic growth. In Central Asia, environmental dynamics are more closely linked to structural changes in livestock production, particularly with respect to nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions. More specifically, cattle production, especially beef and buffalo, shows the strongest positive association with N₂O emissions, followed by sheep and goat farming and poultry production. In Southeast Asia, where renewable energy still plays a limited role or has developed only in recent years, additional evidence suggests that major crops such as rice, maize, coffee, and soy are positively associated with CO₂ emissions, pointing to important sustainability challenges in agriculture-led production systems.

Overall, the findings highlight that the relationship between economic activity and environmental pressure depends strongly on sectoral composition and regional development patterns. The seminar discusses the implications of these results for sustainability-oriented policies, showing why environmental strategies should be calibrated to the specific structure of each economy rather than based on uniform assumptions.

Short Bio:

Gaetano Perone is Assistant Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Pisa, Italy. He holds a PhD in Political Economy and has previously served as Senior Researcher in Economics at the Policy Institute of the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University (ISET), Georgia.

He has published in international peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Cleaner Production, Industrial and Corporate Change, the European Journal of Health Economics, and Scientific Reports. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports (Nature Research).

His research lies at the intersection of applied economics, with a particular focus on labor economics, health economics, the economics of crime, and environmental sustainability. More broadly, his work examines labor market institutions and unemployment dynamics, public health and healthcare-related policy, environmental and climate-related challenges, organized crime and its economic effects, regional development, and the relationship between innovation, institutions, and economic performance.