IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v38y2013icp146-152.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A critique of non-parametric efficiency analysis in energy economics studies

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Chien-Ming

Abstract

The paper reexamines non-additive environmental efficiency models with weakly-disposable undesirable outputs appeared in the literature of energy economics. These efficiency models are used in numerous studies published in this journal and other energy-related outlets. Recent studies, however, have found key limitations of the weak-disposability assumption in its application to environmental efficiency analysis. It is found that efficiency scores obtained from non-additive efficiency models can be non-monotonic in pollution quantities under the weak-disposability assumption — which is against common intuition and the principle of environmental economics. In this paper, I present taxonomy of efficiency models found in the energy economics literature and illustrate the above limitations and discuss implications of monotonicity from a practical viewpoint. Finally, I review the formulations for a variable returns-to-scale technology with weakly-disposable undesirable outputs, which has been misused in a number of papers in the energy economics literature. An application to evaluating the energy efficiencies of 23 European Union states is presented to illustrate the problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Chien-Ming, 2013. "A critique of non-parametric efficiency analysis in energy economics studies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 146-152.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:38:y:2013:i:c:p:146-152
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2013.03.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988313000583
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2013.03.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Fare, R. & Grosskopf, S. & Hernandez-Sancho, F., 2004. "Environmental performance: an index number approach," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 343-352, December.
    2. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W., 2008. "Linear programming models for measuring economy-wide energy efficiency performance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 2901-2906, August.
    3. Riccardi, R. & Oggioni, G. & Toninelli, R., 2012. "Efficiency analysis of world cement industry in presence of undesirable output: Application of data envelopment analysis and directional distance function," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 140-152.
    4. Chien-Ming Chen & Magali A. Delmas, 2012. "Measuring Eco-Inefficiency: A New Frontier Approach," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 60(5), pages 1064-1079, October.
    5. Picazo-Tadeo, Andres J. & Reig-Martinez, Ernest & Hernandez-Sancho, Francesc, 2005. "Directional distance functions and environmental regulation," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 131-142, June.
    6. Zhang, Xing-Ping & Tan, Ya-Kun & Tan, Qin-Liang & Yuan, Jia-Hai, 2012. "Decomposition of aggregate CO2 emissions within a joint production framework," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 1088-1097.
    7. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W., 2008. "Decomposition of aggregate CO2 emissions: A production-theoretical approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 1054-1067, May.
    8. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2012. "Weak and strong disposability vs. natural and managerial disposability in DEA environmental assessment: Comparison between Japanese electric power industry and manufacturing industries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 686-699.
    9. Oh, Dong-hyun & Heshmati, Almas, 2010. "A sequential Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index: Environmentally sensitive productivity growth considering the progressive nature of technology," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1345-1355, November.
    10. Oggioni, G. & Riccardi, R. & Toninelli, R., 2011. "Eco-efficiency of the world cement industry: A data envelopment analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2842-2854, May.
    11. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    12. Wu, F. & Fan, L.W. & Zhou, P. & Zhou, D.Q., 2012. "Industrial energy efficiency with CO2 emissions in China: A nonparametric analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 164-172.
    13. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2012. "DEA radial measurement for environmental assessment and planning: Desirable procedures to evaluate fossil fuel power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 422-432.
    14. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Han, J.Y., 2010. "Total factor carbon emission performance: A Malmquist index analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 194-201, January.
    15. 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.
    16. Kim, Kyunam & Kim, Yeonbae, 2012. "International comparison of industrial CO2 emission trends and the energy efficiency paradox utilizing production-based decomposition," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1724-1741.
    17. 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.
    18. William Cooper & Kyung Park & Jesus Pastor, 1999. "RAM: A Range Adjusted Measure of Inefficiency for Use with Additive Models, and Relations to Other Models and Measures in DEA," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 5-42, February.
    19. Kumar Mandal, Sabuj & Madheswaran, S., 2010. "Environmental efficiency of the Indian cement industry: An interstate analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 1108-1118, February.
    20. 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.
    21. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Golany, B. & Seiford, L. & Stutz, J., 1985. "Foundations of data envelopment analysis for Pareto-Koopmans efficient empirical production functions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1-2), pages 91-107.
    22. Zofio, Jose L. & Prieto, Angel M., 2001. "Environmental efficiency and regulatory standards: the case of CO2 emissions from OECD industries," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 63-83, January.
    23. 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.
    24. 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.
    25. Mandal, Sabuj Kumar, 2010. "Do undesirable output and environmental regulation matter in energy efficiency analysis? Evidence from Indian Cement Industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 6076-6083, October.
    26. Timo Kuosmanen & Victor Podinovski, 2008. "Weak Disposability in Nonparametric Production Analysis: Reply to Färe and Grosskopf," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(2), pages 539-545.
    27. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Wang, H., 2012. "Energy and CO2 emission performance in electricity generation: A non-radial directional distance function approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(3), pages 625-635.
    28. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2012. "Returns to scale and damages to scale under natural and managerial disposability: Strategy, efficiency and competitiveness of petroleum firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 645-662.
    29. 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.
    30. Guo, Xiao-Dan & Zhu, Lei & Fan, Ying & Xie, Bai-Chen, 2011. "Evaluation of potential reductions in carbon emissions in Chinese provinces based on environmental DEA," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2352-2360, May.
    31. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Poh, K.L., 2008. "Measuring environmental performance under different environmental DEA technologies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 1-14, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Seufert, Juergen Heinz & Arjomandi, Amir & Dakpo, K. Hervé, 2017. "Evaluating airline operational performance: A Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen productivity indicator," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 52-68.
    2. Matthias Klumpp, 2018. "How to Achieve Supply Chain Sustainability Efficiently? Taming the Triple Bottom Line Split Business Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-23, February.
    3. Wei, Chu & Löschel, Andreas & Liu, Bing, 2015. "Energy-saving and emission-abatement potential of Chinese coal-fired power enterprise: A non-parametric analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 33-43.
    4. Shuguang Lin & Paul Rouse & Ying-Ming Wang & Lin Lin & Zhen-Quan Zheng, 2023. "Performance measurement of nonhomogeneous Hong Kong hospitals using directional distance functions," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 330-343, June.
    5. Zhou, P. & Sun, Z.R. & Zhou, D.Q., 2014. "Optimal path for controlling CO2 emissions in China: A perspective of efficiency analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 99-110.
    6. Surender Kumar & Rakesh Kumar Jain, 2021. "Cost of CO2 emission mitigation and its decomposition: evidence from coal-fired thermal power sector in India," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 693-717, August.
    7. Zhang, Ning & Wang, Bing, 2015. "A deterministic parametric metafrontier Luenberger indicator for measuring environmentally-sensitive productivity growth: A Korean fossil-fuel power case," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 88-98.
    8. Shixiong Cheng & Wei Liu & Kai Lu, 2018. "Economic Growth Effect and Optimal Carbon Emissions under China’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Policy: A Time Substitution DEA Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-23, May.
    9. Meng, Conghui & Du, Xiaoyun & Zhu, Mengcheng & Ren, Yitian & Fang, Kai, 2023. "The static and dynamic carbon emission efficiency of transport industry in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    10. Yu, Dejian & He, Xiaorong, 2020. "A bibliometric study for DEA applied to energy efficiency: Trends and future challenges," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    11. Ghodeswar, Archana & Oliver, Matthew E., 2022. "Trading one waste for another? Unintended consequences of fly ash reuse in the Indian electric power sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    12. Song, Malin & Zhang, Jie & Wang, Shuhong, 2015. "Review of the network environmental efficiencies of listed petroleum enterprises in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 65-71.
    13. Yauheniya Varabyova & Jonas Schreyögg, 2018. "Integrating quality into the nonparametric analysis of efficiency: a simulation comparison of popular methods," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 261(1), pages 365-392, February.
    14. Tzu-Yu Lin & Sheng-Hsiung Chiu, 2018. "Sustainable Performance of Low-Carbon Energy Infrastructure Investment on Regional Development: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, December.
    15. Hampf, Benjamin & Rødseth, Kenneth Løvold, 2015. "Carbon dioxide emission standards for U.S. power plants: An efficiency analysis perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 140-153.
    16. Wang, H. & Pan, Chen & Wang, Qunwei & Zhou, P., 2020. "Assessing sustainability performance of global supply chains: An input-output modeling approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 285(1), pages 393-404.
    17. Chien-Ming Chen, 2014. "Evaluating eco-efficiency with data envelopment analysis: an analytical reexamination," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 214(1), pages 49-71, March.
    18. Wang, H. & Ang, B.W. & Wang, Q.W. & Zhou, P., 2017. "Measuring energy performance with sectoral heterogeneity: A non-parametric frontier approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 70-78.
    19. Wang, H. & Zhou, P. & Zhou, D.Q., 2013. "Scenario-based energy efficiency and productivity in China: A non-radial directional distance function analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 795-803.
    20. Wang, H. & Zhou, P. & Xie, Bai-Chen & Zhang, N., 2019. "Assessing drivers of CO2 emissions in China's electricity sector: A metafrontier production-theoretical decomposition analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(3), pages 1096-1107.
    21. Grebel, Thomas & Stützer, Michael, 2014. "Assessment of the environmental performance of European countries over time: Addressing the role of carbon leakage and nuclear waste," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 90, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    22. Wang, H., 2015. "A generalized MCDA–DEA (multi-criterion decision analysis–data envelopment analysis) approach to construct slacks-based composite indicator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 114-122.

    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. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Yuan, Yan & Goto, Mika, 2017. "A literature study for DEA applied to energy and environment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 104-124.
    2. Zhou, Haibo & Yang, Yi & Chen, Yao & Zhu, Joe, 2018. "Data envelopment analysis application in sustainability: The origins, development and future directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(1), pages 1-16.
    3. Riccardi, R. & Oggioni, G. & Toninelli, R., 2012. "Efficiency analysis of world cement industry in presence of undesirable output: Application of data envelopment analysis and directional distance function," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 140-152.
    4. Leleu, Hervé, 2013. "Shadow pricing of undesirable outputs in nonparametric analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 231(2), pages 474-480.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Meng, Fanyi & Su, Bin & Thomson, Elspeth & Zhou, Dequn & Zhou, P., 2016. "Measuring China’s regional energy and carbon emission efficiency with DEA models: A survey," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1-21.
    8. 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.
    9. Ramli, Noor Asiah & Munisamy, Susila, 2015. "Eco-efficiency in greenhouse emissions among manufacturing industries: A range adjusted measure," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 219-227.
    10. 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.
    11. Wang, Ke & Lu, Bin & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2013. "China’s regional energy and environmental efficiency: A Range-Adjusted Measure based analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1403-1415.
    12. Halkos, George & Tzeremes, Nickolaos, 2013. "An additive two-stage DEA approach creating sustainability efficiency indexes," MPRA Paper 44231, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Feng, Chao & Zhang, Hua & Huang, Jian-Bai, 2017. "The approach to realizing the potential of emissions reduction in China: An implication from data envelopment analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 859-872.
    14. Wang, H. & Zhou, P. & Zhou, D.Q., 2013. "Scenario-based energy efficiency and productivity in China: A non-radial directional distance function analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 795-803.
    15. Bostian, Moriah & Färe, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Lundgren, Tommy, 2016. "Environmental investment and firm performance: A network approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 243-255.
    16. Mardani, Abbas & Zavadskas, Edmundas Kazimieras & Streimikiene, Dalia & Jusoh, Ahmad & Khoshnoudi, Masoumeh, 2017. "A comprehensive review of data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in energy efficiency," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1298-1322.
    17. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Wang, H., 2012. "Energy and CO2 emission performance in electricity generation: A non-radial directional distance function approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(3), pages 625-635.
    18. Song, Malin & Zhang, Jie & Wang, Shuhong, 2015. "Review of the network environmental efficiencies of listed petroleum enterprises in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 65-71.
    19. Zhou, P. & Sun, Z.R. & Zhou, D.Q., 2014. "Optimal path for controlling CO2 emissions in China: A perspective of efficiency analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 99-110.
    20. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2014. "Environmental assessment for corporate sustainability by resource utilization and technology innovation: DEA radial measurement on Japanese industrial sectors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 295-307.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Non-parametric production models; Undesirable outputs; Environmental efficiencies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • Q49 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Other

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eneeco:v:38:y:2013:i:c:p:146-152. 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/eneco .

    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.