Strengthening Institutions for a Green and Digital Future: Regional Evidence from Europe's Twin Transition

2026/03/30 by Martina Dal Molin, Chiara Leggerini · 1 voice · 1 citation
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Energy, Environment, Economic Growth #Innovation Policy and R&D #Intellectual Property and Patents

paper · doi:10.1111/jors.70062

openalex publication_date 2026/03/30 · openalex created_date 2026/04/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the role of institutional quality in fostering the twin transition across European regions. We construct a novel panel dataset at the NUTS2 level (2006–2020), combining patent data from the OECD REGPAT with the European Quality of Government Index. Twin transition innovation is measured through the fractional count of patents in technologies simultaneously addressing environmental sustainability and digital transformation. Institutional quality is captured both through EQI and its key dimensions. Using a Tobit regression model with panel data, we find that higher institutional quality significantly increases the likelihood and intensity of twin transition patenting

Citations

• Long‐term decline of regions and the rise of populism: The case of Germany
• Institutions matter: The impact of the covid‐19 pandemic on the political trust of young Europeans
• Better Rules or Stronger Communities? On the Social Foundations of Institutional Change and Its Economic Effects
• Do Institutions Matter for Regional Development?
• Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment
• Regional Innovation Systems: Theory, Empirics and Policy
• The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it)
• Specialization, Diversification, and Environmental Technology Life Cycle
• The impact of green technological innovation and institutional quality on CO2 emissions in African countries
• The Regional Development Trap in Europe
• The environmental effects of the “twin” green and digital transition in European regions
• Left-behind versus unequal places: interpersonal inequality, economic decline and the rise of populism in the USA and Europe
• The green transition and its potential territorial discontents
• Untangling regional development traps through narratives
• The twin transition in the European Union: assessing regional patterns of EU-funded investments

Cited by

• What kind of institutional quality matters for green innovation in Italy? a regional perspective

Discussions

• Brussels treats the twin #transition as a matter of capital. But as Dal Molin & Leggerini argue the Journal of Regional Science, the green-digital future depends on having capable #institutions. To s [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

Related

• The twin transition in the European Union: assessing regional patterns of EU-funded investments
• The twin green and digital transition: High-level policy or science fiction?
• The environmental effects of the “twin” green and digital transition in European regions
• Environmental Policy and Directed Technological Change: Evidence from the European Carbon Market
• Decoding regional dynamics: Institutions, innovation, and regional development in the EU