[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-43175-en":3,"doc-seo-43175-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":95},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},43175,1099514068035,"Ezra","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",8,"Research & Report","Energy Efficiency, Productivity and Exporting: Firm-Level Evidence in Latin America","The study examines how energy efficiency relates to productivity and exporting using firm-level evidence from thirty Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries. It applies a constant-returns-to-scale Cobb-Douglas production framework that expands inputs to capture exports and energy efficiency, while also accounting for heterogeneity across firms and industries. Empirical results show heterogeneous patterns by firm size and sector, robust to alternative energy-efficiency measures and controls for country and provincial differences, contributing to debates on LAC energy intensity and weak productivity.","Energy Economics 79 (2019) 97–110  \nContents lists available at ScienceDirect  \nEnergy Economics  \njournal homepage: [www. elsevier. com/locate/eneco](www. elsevier. com/locate/eneco)  \n| Energy eﬃciency, productivity and exporting: Firm-level evidence in Latin America |  |  |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| P. Montalbano a , b , * , S. Nencic\u003Cbr>a Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy b Department of Economics, University of Sussex, UK\u003Cbr>c Department of Economics, University of Roma Tre, Italy |  |  |\n| A R T I C L E I N F O | A B S T R A C T\u003Cbr>This work explores the relationship between energy eﬃciency, productivity and exporting for a sample of ﬁrms located in thirty Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. This relationship has not been studied in depth although it is important and relevant to policymaking. We apply a standard constant returns to scale Cobb-Douglas production function with labor, capital, and knowledge expanded to exports and energy eﬃciency. We also investigate the relationship between energy eﬃciency and exporting and take heterogeneity by ﬁrms and industries into account. Firm-level data come from the national representative World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES). Our empirical analysis ﬁnds heterogeneous results by ﬁrm size and industrial sector both in the relationship between energy eﬃciency and productivity and between energy eﬃciency and exporting. These outcomes are robust to different measures of energy eﬃciency and controlling for heterogeneity among countries and provinces. By providing for the ﬁrst time an extensive investigation of energy intensity and ﬁrm performance for such a large sample of LAC countries, this work contributes to the lively debate on LAC energy eﬃciency and weak productivity. By adopting a broader productivity and international trade perspective, it opens the ground to a rethinking of the priorities of energy saving policies and their environmental impacts.\u003Cbr>© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |  |\n| Article history:\u003Cbr>Received 2 July 2017\u003Cbr>Received in revised form 21 February 2018 Accepted 27 March 2018\u003Cbr>Available online 12 April 2018 |  |  |\n| JEL classiﬁcation:\u003Cbr>D24 L20 O54\u003Cbr>Q40\u003Cbr>Q56\u003Cbr>Keywords:\u003Cbr>Energy intensity\u003Cbr>Energy eﬃciency\u003Cbr>Firm productivity Exports\u003Cbr>Latin America |  |  |\n\n1. Introduction  \nSustainable development goals (SDGs) call for actions that envisage a pro-active role of the various agents (national governments, economic actors, individuals) in the ﬁeld of energy and climate. Firms are fully involved in this framework by committing themselves to adopting responsible environmental actions such as increasing investments for innovative and inclusive low-carbon products, reducing the carbon footprint of their production processes, setting emissions reductions targets and improving their energy eﬃciency.1 Although much of the growth in energy consumption is expected to occur in the developing world, the adoption of respectful environmental conduct and the enforcement of environmental regulations  \n* Corresponding author.  \nE-mail [addresses:](addresses: pierluigi.montalbano@uniroma1.it)[ pierluigi.montalbano@uniroma1.it](addresses: pierluigi.montalbano@uniroma1.it) (P. Montalbano), [silvia.nenci@uniroma3.it](silvia.nenci@uniroma3.it) (S. Nenci).  \n1 See Goal 7 in the SDGs which includes the following target: double the global rate of improvement in energy eﬃciency. For additional details, see: [http://www.un.org/](http://www.un.org/)[ ](http://www.un.org/)[sustainabledevelopment.](sustainabledevelopment.)  \nmay be weaker in developing countries, thus relaxing the pressure for corporate environmental commitments. A thorough understanding of these phenomena is severely constrained by a chronic scarcity of data.  \nThis work explores the relationship between energy use, productivity and international trade for a sample of ﬁrms located in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. This relationship,","cbCaivdRqjtfemJx","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivdRqjtfemJx","pdf",597817,4,1,14,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Energy and environmental commitments in the SDG framework\n## Research motivation and data constraints\n## Empirical focus on energy use, productivity, and international trade\n## Relevance for LAC economic and energy-sector challenges","[{\"question\":\"What is the document’s central research question?\",\"answer\":\"It investigates the relationship between energy efficiency, productivity, and exporting for firms in Latin America and the Caribbean.\"},{\"question\":\"What data source and methodological approach are used?\",\"answer\":\"The analysis uses firm-level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) and estimates a Cobb-Douglas production function that incorporates exports and energy efficiency.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the findings vary across firms and industries?\",\"answer\":\"Results are heterogeneous by firm size and industrial sector for both the energy-efficiency–productivity link and the energy-efficiency–exporting link.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is the topic particularly important for policy in the LAC region?\",\"answer\":\"The document links energy saving priorities to environmental impacts and highlights that LAC economies face weak productivity alongside rapid growth in trade and energy consumption, making the evidence useful for reshaping policy priorities.\"}]",1783378180,35,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":90,"head_meta":92,"extra_data":94,"updated_unix":28},"energy-efficiency-productivity-and-exporting-firm-level-evidence-in-latin-america","",{"@graph":36,"@context":89},[37,53,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/energy-efficiency-productivity-and-exporting-firm-level-evidence-in-latin-america/43175/",{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-18","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81,85],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What 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