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The necessity of distinguishing weak and strong disposability among undesirable outputs in DEA: Environmental performance of Chinese coal-fired power plants

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  • Yang, Hongliang
  • Pollitt, Michael

Abstract

Different from previous efficiency researches, which normally assume a uniform disposability for all undesirable outputs in a production process, this paper proposes a model that distinguishes weak and strong disposability assumptions among various undesirable outputs based on their respective technical features. The paper illustrates the approach using a research sample covering 582 base-load Chinese coal-fired power plants in 2002. The final results show that imposing the technically correct disposability features on undesirable outputs makes a significant difference to the final efficiency evaluation. This suggests the necessity of properly distinguishing disposability features among undesirable outputs in a production process in efficiency models.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Hongliang & Pollitt, Michael, 2010. "The necessity of distinguishing weak and strong disposability among undesirable outputs in DEA: Environmental performance of Chinese coal-fired power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4440-4444, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:8:p:4440-4444
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