Are environmental quality and social welfare compatible realities? Some evidence and simulations for local areas in Spain [Data set]

Dataset accompanying the publication "Are environmental quality and social welfare compatible realities? Some evidence and simulations for local areas in Spain". This paper studies the relationship between environmental quality and social welfare in local (urban and rural) areas. Based on a database of municipality indicators for the Spanish region of Extremadura, we find clear evidence of interconnection and compatibility between ecological and social welfare concerns. We apply distance-based objective indicators and structural equation models, SEM, to study how and to what extent ecological and social welfare realities are integrated. We also simulate different scenarios of environmental degradation caused by droughts and wildfires to quantify the impact they would have on the quality of life of the population. Two interesting results, among others, are derived from this study. On the one hand, it must be said that despite the association found between the two realities, the total effect of the environmental component on the global social welfare indicator (OSWI) is the smallest, being half the total effect of the most decisive components of accessibility and employment. On the other hand, the simulation outcome shows a negative impact of droughts on the OSWI index that is more than double the short term caused by the consequences of forest burning.