Regional environmental efficiency and economic growth: NUTS2 evidence from Germany, France and the UK

This paper by applying nonparametric techniques measures spatial environmental heterogeneities of 98 regions from Germany, France and the UK. Specifically environmental performance indexes are constructed for the 98 regions (NUTS 2 level) identifying their ability to produce higher growth rates and reduce pollution (in the form of municipal waste) generated from regional economic activity. By applying conditional stochastic kernels and local constant estimators it investigates the regional economic activity – environmental quality relationship. The results indicate several spatial environmental heterogeneities among the examined regions. It appears that regions with higher GDP per capita levels tend to have higher environmental performance.Regional environmental efficiency; directional distance function; conditional stochastic kernel; nonparametric regression

Efficiency Measure in Nitrogen Management under U.S. Trade Induced Corn Production

The overall objective of this paper is to measure the impact of the undesirable outputs from NAFTA (agricultural production and trade) on the environment by years in post-NAFTA period. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to measure environmental efficiency by considering desirable (corn production) and undesirable (nitrogen) outputs in fifteen states. DEA allowed us to measure the level of nitrogen pollution to be reduced by modeling undesirable output in efficiency evaluation. Data from 15 states (Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin) on corn production, land use and nitrogen fertilizer from 1994-2008 (post-NAFTA) were considered. The results indicated environmental inefficiency, nitrogen pollution and land use inefficiency were increasing over the years in the post-NAFTA period.Data Envelopment Analysis, Environmental Efficiency, Nitrogen Pollution, NAFTA., International Relations/Trade,

Reallocating Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emission in EU15 Countries

This research work uses an alternative approach for modeling agricultural greenhouse gas emissions as an undesirable output, based on the zero sum gains DEA model (ZSG-DEA BCC model). This approach reallocates agricultural greenhouse gas emissions among EU15 countries. The reallocation analysis of greenhouse gas emissions permits countries that increase their emissions negotiate the emissions reduction with the others. This negotiation process might create a quota trade system for agricultural activity.DEA, Zero Sum Gains, Movement along the Efficient Frontier, Smoothed Frontier, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q54, Q56,

Incorporating Both Undesirable Outputs and Uncontrollable Variables into DEA: the Performance of Chinese Coal-Fired Power Plants

There are two difficulties in doing an objective evaluation of the performance of decision-making units (DMUs). The first one is how to treat undesirable outputs jointly produced with the desirable outputs, and the second one is how to treat uncontrollable variables, which often capture the impact of the operating environment. Given difficulties in both model construction and data availability, very few published papers simultaneously consider the above two problems. This article attempts to do so by proposing six DEA-based performance evaluation models based on a research sample of the Chinese coal-fired power plants. The finding of this paper not only contributes for the performance measurement methodology, but also has policy implications for the Chinese coal-fired power sector

Does the Kyoto Protocol Agreement matters? An environmental efficiency analysis

This paper uses both conditional and unconditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models in order to determine different environmental efficiency levels for a sample of 110 countries in 2007. In order to capture the effect of countries compliance with the Kyoto Protocol Agreement (KPA), we condition the years since a country has signed the agreement until 2007. Particularly, various DEA models have been applied alongside with bootstrap techniques in order to determine the effect of Kyoto protocol agreement on countries’ environmental efficiencies. The study illustrates how the recent developments in efficiency analysis and statistical inference can be applied when evaluating environmental performance issues. The results indicate that the first six years after countries signed the Kyoto protocol agreement have a positive effect on their environmental efficiencies. However after that period it appears that countries avoid complying with the actions imposed by the agreement which in turn has an immediate negative effect on their environmental efficiencies.Environmental efficiency; Kyoto protocol agreement; Conditional full frontiers; Statistical inference; DEA

Time-series cross-sectional environmental performance and disclosure relationship:specific evidence from a less-developed country

This paper relies on ‘vulnerability and exploitability’ framework to submit new insights into legitimacy theory and voluntary disclosure theory using specific empirical evidence from the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The study connects the voluntary and legitimizing disclosure behaviors, regarding carbon emission due to gas flaring, of dominant companies in the Nigerian upstream petroleum sector to the vulnerability and exploitability of Nigeria as a less developed country. The hypothesized relations between gas flaring-related environmental performance and two forms of its disclosure (volume and substance) are estimated and tested using Prais-Winsten regression with Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE). While the paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure gas flaring-related carbon performance, the two forms of gas flaring-related disclosures are measured using content analysis. We document significant positive and negative association between gas flaring-related carbon emission performance, on one hand, and the volumetric disclosure and disclosure substance on the other hand. These results imply that while the positive relation confirms the vulnerable nature of Nigeria as a less developed country, the negative relation is linked to the country’s exploitability. It is also empirically established that environmental performance is one of the key factors responsible for the undulating trend in the volume of environmental disclosures by large corporations operating in less-developed countries

Environmental Concerns in Water Pricing Policy:Â Â an Application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

Water management is subject to conflicting economic and environmental objectives, and policymakers require a clear overview of the different outcomes derived from different water management options. The aim of this paper is to assess the efficiency of several irrigation water pricing policies with a special focus on their environmental implications. Irrigation is chosen here as a crucial sector of water use in large parts of southern Europe, where pressure on the resource is expected to increase due to climate change. A novel methodological approach for performing an ex ante analysis of alternative water pricing policies is proposed here, where environmental and technical performance are simultaneously considered. This approach takes place in two steps: the first is a simulation of alternative water policies through a mathematical programming model, and the second is the analysis of results by using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique. A case study is applied in Puglia (southern Italy), where irrigation is the primary factor of strategic relevance for policymakers regarding water management. Our results show that on the one hand alternative pricing policies perform similarly in terms of technical efficiency and environmental efficiency. On the other hand, inefficiency appears to depend mainly on technical rather than environmental concerns. According to the assigned weights, through the DEA technique, the highest improvement for inefficient options may be obtained by better labour use. We conclude that the proposed approach may be a comprehensive and versatile framework for water policy analysis, offering a tool for supporting the decision-making process.Irrigation, Policy assessment, Efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis, Linear Programming

Kuznets curve and environmental performance: evidence from China

The paper investigates China’s environmental performance-economic development relationship for the time period of 1965-2009. The results indicate that after 1990 China increased its environmental performance mainly driven by the implementation of several environmental policies. In addition when we taking into account several factors contributed to China’s economic growth, the empirical evidences suggest the existence of an inverted “U” shape relationship between China’s environmental performance and economic development. However, when only the influence of the industrial sector is taken into account the shape of the established relationship changes from an inverted “U” to “N” shape, indicating that the main determinant of China’s environmental inefficiencies over the years was the heavily industrialization.Environmental performance; Environmental Kuznets Curve; China; Economic Growth