IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v215y2011i3p750-762.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Alternative measures of environmental technology structure in DEA: An application

Author

Listed:
  • Sahoo, Biresh K.
  • Luptacik, Mikulas
  • Mahlberg, Bernhard

Abstract

The nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) literature on environmental efficiency (EE) considers handling undesirable outputs in two alternative ways: either in their original forms with the assumption that these are weakly disposable or in various translated forms with the assumption that these are strongly disposable. Choosing a particular approach implies adoption of a particular, distinct treatment of undesirable outputs, and hence yields a distinct set of EE estimates. To explore the effects of the interplay between choice of EE measure and specific treatment of undesirable outputs, this paper attempts to generate all possible output-oriented EE measures based on these two alternative approaches. Furthermore, guided by the argument that slacks are important in identifying properly the efficiency behavior of firms, it proposes two new alternative, slacks-based formulations of EE: one based on the range directional model, and the other on the generalized proportional distance function model. Using a confected data set of ten firms and a real-life data set of 22 OECD countries, our empirical analysis reveals that: first, EE scores are influenced not only by the choice of disposability assumption for undesirable outputs but also by the way these are treated in various translated forms; second, the choice of any particular treatment of undesirable outputs plays no role in influencing the rankings of firms; and third, our two new alternative EE formulations are, at the least, viable alternatives to existing EE measures in ranking firms according to their eco-efficiency behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Sahoo, Biresh K. & Luptacik, Mikulas & Mahlberg, Bernhard, 2011. "Alternative measures of environmental technology structure in DEA: An application," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 215(3), pages 750-762, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:215:y:2011:i:3:p:750-762
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221711006199
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yang, H. & Pollitt, M., 2007. "Distinguishing Weak and Strong Disposability among Undesirable Outputs in DEA: The Example of the Environmental Efficiency of Chinese Coal-Fired Power Plants," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0741, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Timo Kuosmanen, 2005. "Weak Disposability in Nonparametric Production Analysis with Undesirable Outputs," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(4), pages 1077-1082.
    3. Sahoo, Biresh K. & Tone, Kaoru, 2009. "Decomposing capacity utilization in data envelopment analysis: An application to banks in India," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 195(2), pages 575-594, June.
    4. Mahlberg, Bernhard & Sahoo, Biresh K., 2011. "Radial and non-radial decompositions of Luenberger productivity indicator with an illustrative application," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(2), pages 721-726, June.
    5. Golany, B & Roll, Y, 1989. "An application procedure for DEA," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 237-250.
    6. Zhou, Peng & Poh, Kim Leng & Ang, Beng Wah, 2007. "A non-radial DEA approach to measuring environmental performance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 178(1), pages 1-9, April.
    7. K Kerstens & I Van de Woestyne, 2011. "Negative data in DEA: a simple proportional distance function approach," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 62(7), pages 1413-1419, July.
    8. Kerstens, Kristiaan & Mounir, Amine & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2011. "Geometric representation of the mean-variance-skewness portfolio frontier based upon the shortage function," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 210(1), pages 81-94, April.
    9. Leightner, Jonathan E. & Inoue, Tomoo, 2008. "Capturing climate's effect on pollution abatement with an improved solution to the omitted variables problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 191(2), pages 540-557, December.
    10. Morey, RC & Fine, DJ & Loree, SW, 1990. "Comparing the allocative efficiencies of hospitals," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 71-83.
    11. Yang, Hongliang & Pollitt, Michael, 2009. "Incorporating both undesirable outputs and uncontrollable variables into DEA: The performance of Chinese coal-fired power plants," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(3), pages 1095-1105, September.
    12. Rolf Färe & Shawna Grosskopf, 2003. "Nonparametric Productivity Analysis with Undesirable Outputs: Comment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(4), pages 1070-1074.
    13. M C A Silva Portela & E Thanassoulis & G Simpson, 2004. "Negative data in DEA: a directional distance approach applied to bank branches," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 55(10), pages 1111-1121, October.
    14. Sahoo, Biresh K. & Acharya, Debashis, 2010. "An alternative approach to monetary aggregation in DEA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 204(3), pages 672-682, August.
    15. Dyckhoff, H. & Allen, K., 2001. "Measuring ecological efficiency with data envelopment analysis (DEA)," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 312-325, July.
    16. Lovell, C. A. Knox & Pastor, Jesus T., 1999. "Radial DEA models without inputs or without outputs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 46-51, October.
    17. Knox Lovell, C. A., 1995. "Measuring the macroeconomic performance of the Taiwanese economy," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1-2), pages 165-178, April.
    18. Atakelty Hailu, 2003. "Nonparametric Productivity Analysis with Undesirable Outputs: Reply," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(4), pages 1075-1077.
    19. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Poh, K.L., 2008. "A survey of data envelopment analysis in energy and environmental studies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(1), pages 1-18, August.
    20. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    21. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna, 2004. "Modeling undesirable factors in efficiency evaluation: Comment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(1), pages 242-245, August.
    22. Asmild, Mette & Pastor, Jesús T., 2010. "Slack free MEA and RDM with comprehensive efficiency measures," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 475-483, December.
    23. Emrouznejad, Ali & Anouze, Abdel Latef & Thanassoulis, Emmanuel, 2010. "A semi-oriented radial measure for measuring the efficiency of decision making units with negative data, using DEA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(1), pages 297-304, January.
    24. J A Sharp & W Meng & W Liu, 2007. "A modified slacks-based measure model for data envelopment analysis with ‘natural’ negative outputs and inputs," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 58(12), pages 1672-1677, December.
    25. Fare, Rolf, et al, 1989. "Multilateral Productivity Comparisons When Some Outputs Are Undesirable: A Nonparametric Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(1), pages 90-98, February.
    26. Atakelty Hailu & Terrence S. Veeman, 2001. "Non-parametric Productivity Analysis with Undesirable Outputs: An Application to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(3), pages 605-616.
    27. Dyson, R. G. & Allen, R. & Camanho, A. S. & Podinovski, V. V. & Sarrico, C. S. & Shale, E. A., 2001. "Pitfalls and protocols in DEA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 245-259, July.
    28. Seiford, Lawrence M. & Zhu, Joe, 2002. "Modeling undesirable factors in efficiency evaluation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 16-20, October.
    29. Podinovski, Victor V. & Kuosmanen, Timo, 2011. "Modelling weak disposability in data envelopment analysis under relaxed convexity assumptions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 211(3), pages 577-585, June.
    30. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna, 2001. "When can slacks be used to identify congestion? An answer to W.W. Cooper, L. Seiford and J. Zhu," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 217-221, September.
    31. Cropper, Maureen L & Oates, Wallace E, 1992. "Environmental Economics: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 675-740, June.
    32. Fare, Rolf & Knox Lovell, C. A., 1978. "Measuring the technical efficiency of production," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 150-162, October.
    33. Daniel Tyteca, 1997. "Linear Programming Models for the Measurement of Environmental Performance of Firms—Concepts and Empirical Results," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 183-197, May.
    34. Tone, Kaoru, 2001. "A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 498-509, May.
    35. Sahoo, Biresh K. & Tone, Kaoru, 2009. "Radial and non-radial decompositions of profit change: With an application to Indian banking," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 196(3), pages 1130-1146, August.
    36. Korhonen, Pekka J. & Luptacik, Mikulas, 2004. "Eco-efficiency analysis of power plants: An extension of data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(2), pages 437-446, April.
    37. Sarkis, Joseph & Cordeiro, James J., 2001. "An empirical evaluation of environmental efficiencies and firm performance: Pollution prevention versus end-of-pipe practice," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 102-113, November.
    38. Madlener, Reinhard & Antunes, Carlos Henggeler & Dias, Luis C., 2009. "Assessing the performance of biogas plants with multi-criteria and data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(3), pages 1084-1094, September.
    39. Robert Chambers & Thomas Mitchell, 2001. "Homotheticity and Non-Radial Changes," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 31-39, January.
    40. Scheel, Holger, 2001. "Undesirable outputs in efficiency valuations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 400-410, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeanneaux, Philippe & Latruffe, Laure, 2016. "Modelling pollution-generating technologies in performance benchmarking: Recent developments, limits and future prospects in the nonparametric frameworkAuthor-Name: Dakpo, K. Hervé," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 250(2), pages 347-359.
    2. Halkos, George & Petrou, Kleoniki Natalia, 2019. "Treating undesirable outputs in DEA: A critical review," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 97-104.
    3. Halkos, George & Petrou, Kleoniki Natalia, 2018. "A critical review of the main methods to treat undesirable outputs in DEA," MPRA Paper 90374, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Gómez-Calvet, Roberto & Conesa, David & Gómez-Calvet, Ana Rosa & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2014. "Energy efficiency in the European Union: What can be learned from the joint application of directional distance functions and slacks-based measures?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 137-154.
    5. Adler, Nicole & Volta, Nicola, 2016. "Accounting for externalities and disposability: A directional economic environmental distance function," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 250(1), pages 314-327.
    6. George Halkos & George Papageorgiou, 2016. "Spatial environmental efficiency indicators in regional waste generation: a nonparametric approach," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(1), pages 62-78, January.
    7. Leleu, Hervé, 2013. "Shadow pricing of undesirable outputs in nonparametric analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 231(2), pages 474-480.
    8. Abad, Arnaud & Briec, Walter, 2019. "On the axiomatic of pollution-generating technologies: Non-parametric production analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 277(1), pages 377-390.
    9. Afzalinejad, Mohammad, 2020. "Reverse efficiency measures for environmental assessment in data envelopment analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Cordero Ferrera, Jose Manuel & Alonso Morán, Edurne & Nuño Solís, Roberto & Orueta, Juan F. & Souto Arce, Regina, 2013. "Efficiency assessment of primary care providers: A conditional nonparametric approach," MPRA Paper 51926, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Poh, K.L., 2008. "A survey of data envelopment analysis in energy and environmental studies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(1), pages 1-18, August.
    12. Lu, Ching-Cheng & Chiu, Yung-Ho & Shyu, Ming-Kuang & Lee, Jen-Hui, 2013. "Measuring CO2 emission efficiency in OECD countries: Application of the Hybrid Efficiency model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 130-135.
    13. Chiu, Yung-Ho & Lee, Jen-Hui & Lu, Ching-Cheng & Shyu, Ming-Kuang & Luo, Zhengying, 2012. "The technology gap and efficiency measure in WEC countries: Application of the hybrid meta frontier model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 349-357.
    14. Beltrán-Esteve, Mercedes & Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J., 2017. "Assessing environmental performance in the European Union: Eco-innovation versus catching-up," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 240-252.
    15. Cordero, José Manuel & Alonso-Morán, Edurne & Nuño-Solinis, Roberto & Orueta, Juan F. & Arce, Regina Sauto, 2015. "Efficiency assessment of primary care providers: A conditional nonparametric approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 235-244.
    16. Chang, Dong-Shang & Liu, Wenrong & Yeh, Li-Ting, 2013. "Incorporating the learning effect into data envelopment analysis to measure MSW recycling performance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 229(2), pages 496-504.
    17. Cherchye, Laurens & Rock, Bram De & Walheer, Barnabé, 2015. "Multi-output efficiency with good and bad outputs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(3), pages 872-881.
    18. George Halkos & Nickolaos Tzeremes, 2013. "National culture and eco-efficiency: an application of conditional partial nonparametric frontiers," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 15(4), pages 423-441, October.
    19. Barnabé Walheer, 2020. "Output, input, and undesirable output interconnections in data envelopment analysis: convexity and returns-to-scale," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 284(1), pages 447-467, January.
    20. Mahlberg, Bernhard & Luptacik, Mikulas & Sahoo, Biresh K., 2011. "Examining the drivers of total factor productivity change with an illustrative example of 14 EU countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 60-69.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:215:y:2011:i:3:p:750-762. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.