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This paper examines the effects of HSR development on airport technical efficiency and the labor productivity at airports. Existing literature mainly focuses on the impacts of HSR on passenger traffic. In addition to passengers, HSR development may influence airports' other outputs such as cargo and flight movements together with various inputs. These inputs and outputs collectively determine airports' technical efficiency. With access to a dataset consisting of 46 Chinese airports and 16 Japanese airports from 2007 to 2015, the paper firstly adopts both the standard two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and double bootstrap methods to evaluate the impacts of HSR development on airports' technical efficiency. We then evaluate the effects of HSR on airport labor productivity which is measured by both work-load units per employee and aircraft movements per employee. Our main findings indicate that HSR development relates to a decline in airport efficiency. Airports located in cities that have better connectivity or accessibility in the HSR network suffer more efficiency loss than the others. It is also observed that the locational advantage of HSR stations relative to airports is negatively associated with airport efficiency. By contrast, good intermodal linkage between the airport and its nearest HSR station is positively correlated with airport efficiency. Furthermore, the study reports different results between China and Japan with respect to the effects of HSR on labor productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing amount of resources is being utilized to combat the pollution problem in China. Measuring and improving the efficiency of this resource allocation is an effective way to promote pollution treatment at the present technical level. This paper utilizes a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to attain allocation results based on the zero-sum gain and fixed-sum gain assumptions. We divide all the inputs into discretionary and non-discretionary inputs and construct two models for allocating resources based on the environmental efficiency scores. The new models are applied to calculate the performance and resource allocation scheme of 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2015. Most provinces are inefficient at controlling pollution emission or treating pollution while using the given level of input resources. Based on the production possibility set of each province in 2015, the processing capacity of wastewater and gas could be increased by 1% and 3%, respectively, by reallocating resources for pollution treatment among different provinces. Environmental efficiency scores and resource allocation plans based on various assumptions are obtained in this paper to enlighten the corresponding decision-makers. Image 1 • The paper constructs two resource allocation models based on the DEA approach. • This research considers the allocation of public pollution treatment resources between different sectors. • Two strategies for resource allocation are composed to deal with different conditions relating to resources. • We apply the new models to measure the performance of 30 regions in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metal industry (MI) in China is energy and emissions intensive. This paper tries to provide guidance for the green development transformation of China's MI, by investigating the green total-factor productivity (GTFP) and its influencing factors using a global data envelopment analysis and a spatial Tobit regression model. The estimation results show that: (1) from 2000 to 2015, GTFP of China's MI enjoyed a considerable improvement. However, the current value of GTFP of China's MI is still less than 0.5, indicating that GTFP of China's MI is far from efficient; (2) the spatial correlation test shows that GTFPs of China's provincial MIs have positive spatial correlations. Most of the provinces scattered in "high-high" and "low-low" agglomerations; (3) GTFP of China's MI is significantly positive related to the degree of marketization, fiscal decentralization, environmental regulation, industrial scale, is significantly negative related to resources endowment and product structure, and has "U" shaped relationship with the level of economic development. The above results suggest that China already has made remarkable achievements in promoting green development of its MI. However, there is much room for further improvement. Policy options for the green development transformation of China's MI include but are not limited to promoting market-oriented and financial system reforms, strengthening environmental supervision, and optimizing industrial scale and product structure. Finally, recommendations for the effective implementation of these policies are provided at the end of the study. • This paper analyzed the historical performance and influencing factors of GTFP of China's MI. • Results show that GTFP of China's MI achieved considerable improvement in the past few years. • However, the current level of GTFP of China's MI is still very low. • There are many effective policy options for further promoting GTFP growth of China's MI. • Some implications for the implementation of these policies are provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of China's forestry resources has never been more challenging due to serious problems such as shortage, inferiority and uneven distribution of forestry resources. Therefore, the study and evaluation of China's forestry resources has a great significance to improve efficiency and ensure the sustainable development of the forestry resource. Meanwhile, the vast territory, huge population and widespread forest landscape of China have led to the numerous indexes and the huge data. To perform the research and evaluation accurately, this paper utilized the big data theory to analyze the relevant data of China's forestry resources. This study collected the data from 31 inland provinces and municipalities of China from 2005 to 2013, after which we carefully examined economic, social and ecological factors to choose assessment indexes and processed data accordingly. Firstly, we performed a cross-sectional dataset analysis using the method of data envelopment analysis to investigate the forestry resources efficiency in 31 inland provinces and municipalities of China in years 2008, 2012 and 2013. Secondly, we analyzed time series data of the 31 inland provinces and municipalities from 2005 to 2013 using the Malmquist total factor productivity index method. Our results showed the dominant factor that restraining forestry resources efficiency for the 31 inland provinces and municipalities is the implemented technology. So we suggest increasing the investment in science and technology to improve the overall efficiency of forestry resources, along with improvement of operation and management by relevant administrative departments to improve technology utilization. The innovation of this paper lies in the dynamic process of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the profit growth of wind power enterprises in China is generally weak, and the phenomenon of "wind curtailment" in some areas is relatively common. The comprehensive evaluation of wind power performance in various regions of China and the study of the driving forces of wind power performance differences in different regions are of great significance for scientific planning and layout of wind power investment. Based on the panel data, this paper combines Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to establish an evaluation model to evaluate the wind power performance of China's 29 provinces and cities from 2011 to 2018. Then uses the evaluation results as input data of Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) prediction model to predict the wind power performance of 2019 in various regions of China under the current policy and environment. Finally, the main factors affecting the performance of China's wind power generation are explored by establishing a regression model. The research results show that at present, the main factors affecting the performance of China's wind power generation are local power consumption capacity, economic development degree and the rate of wind abandonment. On the premise of solving the problem of wind curtailment, appropriately promoting power consumption and renewable energy policy reform, from Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) to a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), are effective means to promote the development of wind power generation in China. Image 1067 • In wind-intensive areas, wind power performance levels are relatively low. • Power consumption capacity and wind curtailment rate are the main influencing factors. • Current policy cannot effectively solve the problem of wind curtailment. • Renewable energy policies with regional differences should be adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of the implementation of smart city policy (SCP) on energy efficiency (EE) in China. For this purpose, we have developed a non-convex metafrontier data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to measure EE, and empirically examine the impacts of SCP on China's EE using Difference-in-Differences (DID) analysis, using a dataset of 251 cities between 2003 and 2016. Results show that there exists significant regional heterogeneity across cities, with the SCP exerting a significant positive effect on EE, indicating that the SCP can effectively improve EE during the study period. These findings are robust to different sub-sample, energy efficiency alternative measures, estimation strategies, and Baidu Search Index. Based on empirical results, the implications of SCP are outlined. • Energy efficiency measures of 251 Chinese prefectural-level cities are estimated. • Eastern region performs the best, followed by the central and western regions. • The effects of smart city policy on energy efficiency is investigated using DID method. • The smart city policy can effectively improve energy efficiency during the study period. • Empirical results are robust to different sub-sample, energy efficiency alternative measures, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alleviating energy poverty is a significant issue in many countries, for which effective energy poverty measurement is the prerequisite. This paper seeks to make a comprehensive and systematic assessment of the energy poverty performance of 30 provinces in China for 11-year period (2007–2017) by emphasizing their spatial-temporal changes. The paper firstly constructed energy poverty measurement conceptual framework based on overviewing previous studies. Secondly, a technique based on the integrated fuzzy DEMATEL (Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) and Data Envelopment Analysis - Assurance Region (DEA-AR) for performance assessment was proposed. Then, the energy poverty performance was assessed, and clustering analysis was conducted to investigate the spatial-temporal changes of energy poverty in China. Finally, sensitivity analysis was applied for verifying the robustness of the proposed method. It is found that the energy poverty condition in China tends to be similar among most regions, but the gap between the best and worst performers gets wider. In addition, provinces with better economic conditions, have higher performance and are classified into the progressive group for alleviating energy poverty. On the contrary, provinces, whose economy lags, have regressed the most and are also the worst performers in reducing energy poverty. Thus, policies to improve household energy cleanability in high-income provinces and increase energy affordability in low-income regions would help reduce energy poverty in China. • A comprehensive energy poverty assessment framework was proposed. • An integrated Fuzzy DEMATEL/DEA-AR was proposed to evaluate the performance. • The comparison between the proposed Fuzzy DEMATEL/DEA-AR model and conventional DEA was conducted. • Spatial and temporal analysis of energy poverty performance in China was conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Technology advances are considered to be effective in reducing carbon emissions. However, studies show that the effect of such advances on reducing carbon emissions is not as effective as expected, owing to the existence of the rebound effect (RE). This paper proposes a new method integrating the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) production model and the sequential Malmquist-Luenberger (SML) index to calculate China's macro-carbon RE. An extended DEA production model is used to eliminate the impact of input scale, and the SML index is employed to avoid the phenomenon of technology regress. Results show that the carbon RE can be calculated more precisely. The new method is then applied to calculate carbon RE values from 30 Chinese provinces from 1996 to 2015, and results indicate that the carbon RE does indeed exist in China and that national average carbon RE values vary from 7.4% to 43.8%. Furthermore, both the backfire effect and the super conservation effect are evident in some provinces. Based upon the obtained results, certain policy implications are suggested to facilitate China in effectively implementing carbon emission reduction actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, PM 2.5 is still one of the most serious air pollution issues in China. By empirically testing the actual inhibitory effect of China's total factor energy efficiency progress on PM 2.5 , this paper can provide a new evaluation index for energy conservation in China and help Chinese cities understand the beneficial environmental effect of total factor productivity (TFP) progress under the constraint of energy consumption to point out an effective path of energy conservation and emission reduction that is highly in line with China's current high-quality development strategy. Based on the panel data of 105 key environmental protection cities in China, this paper evaluates total factor energy efficiency with range directional model (RDM) and global Malmquist (GM) productivity index based on data envelopment analysis (DEA); it then uses spatial econometric models to test the impact of energy efficiency progress on PM 2.5 concentration. The efficiency evaluation results show that the total factor energy efficiency of 105 key environmental protection cities has increased by an average of 35.9% from 2004 to 2015, with an average annual progress rate of 2.2%. Compared with Eastern and Central China, the progress of energy efficiency in the western region during 2004–2015 is relatively lagged. The average energy efficiency progress rate of higher administrative hierarchy cities and super cities with more than 10 million permanent residents is much higher than that of other cities. The results of GM index decomposition show that technological progress is the main driving force of energy efficiency progress. The spatial econometric analysis results show that there is a significant positive spatial autocorrelation in the concentration of PM 2.5 in sample cities, and the energy efficiency progress can significantly inhibit the PM 2.5 pollution in local and adjacent cities. The influence of each explanatory variable on PM 2.5 concentration is mainly composed of the spatial spillover effect. Image 1 • DEA-based RDM and Global Malmquist index are used to evaluate energy efficiency. • The energy efficiency of 105 cities has increased by an average of 35.9% in 12 years. • Technological progress is the main driving force of energy efficiency progress. • Energy efficiency progress can significantly reduce PM2.5 concentration. • The impact of each factor on PM2.5 is mainly composed of spatial spillover effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid economic development of China, the increasing emission of industrial waste gas as well as its poor control efficiency have caused serious air pollution issues and put threats to human health and sustainable development. Under the current development model, China's industrial sectors still remain the dominant economic component. Based on existing academic research in China and abroad, as well as with the help of the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, this paper adopted 39 industrial sectors of China as Decision Making Units (DMU) and their input-output data from 2003 to 2014 to calculate and evaluate the TFE of waste gas control in different industries of China. By designing an original MATLAB algorithm for optimization solutions of multi-variable constrained nonlinear functions, we found that there were 24 industries (61.5% of total industries) whose waste gas control efficiency at period end was lower than that at period beginning. Although the tobacco industry kept the optimal level, the major sectors with the biggest industrial waste gas emission all had poor waste gas control TFE. Based on the results, we further explained possible reasons for the difference in TFE across different industries from 2003 to 2014, and provided policy recommendations accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the iron and steel industry (ISI) accounts for more than 16% of China's total energy consumption. Improving energy efficiency (EE) and promoting energy savings in this industry have vital significance for China's further sustainable development. Using provincial panel data from 2000 to 2014 and meta-frontier data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper investigates EE and the energy-saving potential (EP) of China's ISI by considering regional technology heterogeneities. The results show that (1) from 2001 to 2014, EE in China's ISI achieved significant improvement. Technological progress is the most powerful driving factor, while the declines in scale efficiency and pure technical efficiency are two obstructive factors; (2) the sources of energy inefficiency (EI) show distinct spatial difference characteristics. EI in the eastern region mainly stems from scale inefficiency and pure technical inefficiency, while that in the central and western regions stems from three aspects of scale inefficiency, pure technical inefficiency, and technology gap; and (3) there is considerable EP in China's ISI, which represents nearly 80% of ISI's current total energy consumption. Because the sources of EP vary across regions, the focus of future work for China's regional ISI should also vary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because industrial sectors in China are energy-intensive, improving energy efficiency and promoting energy savings in these sectors are of great importance for the further sustainable development of China’s economy. Using a proposed meta-frontier data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper analyzes the total-factor energy efficiency and energy savings potential in China’s provincial industrial sectors for the years 2000–2014 from three perspectives, namely, the technology gap, management, and scale. The results indicate that (1) driven by technological progress, energy efficiency during the sample period was greatly improved, though the expansion of technology gaps between regions and the decline in scale efficiency represented two significant handicaps; (2) the current energy efficiency in China’s industrial sectors remains extremely low, indicating that there is considerable potential for energy efficiency improvement and energy savings; and (3) the sources of energy inefficiency and energy savings potential in China’s industrial sectors exhibit spatially distinct characteristics. Accordingly, it is determined that most of China’s eastern provinces should focus on improving scale and management efficiency, whereas most of its central and western provinces should concentrate on three factors: narrowing the regional technology gap, improving management efficiency, and optimizing the industrial scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we comprehensively consider the environment and economic performance by employing non-radial distance function to study the regional eco-efficiency of China's Non-ferrous Metals Industry (NMI) during 2000–2016, from the perspective of total-factor through Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-Malmquist analysis framework. The change of regional technology gap ratio and the source of regional eco-inefficiency is also explored. Moreover, this paper analyzes the evolution of regional eco-efficiency and the main factors that contribute to changes in eco-efficiency. The results indicate that: First, the eco-efficiency of China's NMI has improved and has shown a certain degree of regional heterogeneity. Second, the main source of eco-inefficiency is management inefficiency in eastern China. The central, western and northeastern China all showed an increasing trend of technology gap inefficiency and a declining trend of management inefficiency during the sample period. Third, eastern China is regarded as a technology leader. The improvement of eco-efficiency in the central and northeastern China is mainly due to the promotion of technological progress, while the western region relies on the improvement of technical efficiency. The study suggests that strengthening scientific and technological research, promoting inter-regional technical exchanges are particularly important for eco-efficiency improvement and regional coordinated development in China's NMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, evaluating CO 2 emissions efficiency and its marginal abatement cost in transportation sectors has been a hot topic. However, while evaluating the CO 2 marginal abatement cost using data envelopment analysis approach, the weak disposability of CO 2 may imply positive abatement cost, which undoubtedly violates our common sense. To obtain non-positive marginal abatement cost, CO 2 emissions should be treated as an input. To reconcile this contradiction, this paper intends to propose a global, directional distance function model based on previous study to investigate the productivity, economic efficiency, CO 2 emissions efficiency, and marginal abatement cost of the China’s regional transportation sectors during 2007–2012. The results show that: (1) the productivity, economic efficiency and CO 2 emissions efficiency of different regions differ widely. More specifically, the coastal areas of south China perform better than the other areas in terms of productivity, economic efficiency, and CO 2 emissions efficiency. (2) Generally, the economic efficiency is greater than CO 2 emissions efficiency, which is relatively low in most areas. (3) A negative correlation is found between CO 2 emissions efficiency and its marginal abatement cost. For a 1% increase in CO 2 emissions efficiency, the CO 2 marginal abatement cost declines by 102 Yuan (in 2004 constant price). The results imply that improving CO 2 emissions efficiency plays an important role in marginal abatement cost reduction, and it also provides us a new approach to reduce abatement cost besides the technical progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Railway is one of the most efficient and environmental-friendly ways to transport people and goods. High-speed railway has been developing rapidly and the railway mileage has increased by 21.18% in China during the period of 2006–2011 and thus it is interesting to evaluate whether the railway transportation has reduced the environmental impact of transport in China. In this paper, we first use a non-radial DEA under managerial disposability to measure the environmental efficiency of 30 regions in China; then we propose a panel beta regression with fixed effects to model the impact of railway transportation on environmental efficiency. The results indicate that the environmental efficiency slowly increased during 2006–2011 and it exhibits regional disparities with the eastern area having the highest environmental efficiency and the western area being the lowest one; Moreover, we also find a significant positive impact of railway transportation on higher environmental efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving eco-efficiency is an important way to promote environmental decoupling. Based on the input-output model and data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper evaluates the eco-efficiency of 44 sectors in China with a new DEA model considering inter-sectoral linkages, then explores how the industrial network would be optimized as inefficient sectors become efficient under constant resources supply and constant final demand. The empirical results indicate that 22 sectors are inefficient and deserve further improvement. Inefficient sectors becoming efficient will drive the industrial network to evolve in a more intensive direction, and allow the economy to achieve greater economic benefits with less energy consumption and pollution. Accounting under constant resources supply suggests that increasing external demand should be a key to promoting environmental decoupling in the economy. Accounting under constant final demand indicates more stringent environmental regulations should be used to drive technology upgrades. • A new eco-efficiency measurement combining the input-output model and DEA is built. • The eco-efficiency and potential deficiencies of 44 sectors in China are evaluated. • The impact of inefficient sectors becoming efficient on the economy is measured. • The industrial network presents significant potential for environmental decoupling. • Key constraints to environmental decoupling in the industrial network are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the efficiency and productivity of the water supply sector is related to the mitigation of a country's water resources crisis and the governance of the water ecological environment. This paper employs a sequential data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to examine the comparative efficiency of China's urban water industry by using the country-level data from 1998 to 2017, and then attempts to make a cross-country comparison of the technology gap in the urban water industry between China and major OECD countries. The results show that China's urban water sector performance is improving despite falling short of urban water development in the major OECD. The gap between the performance of China's urban water sector and that of major OECD countries is narrowing. Efficiency improvement has become the main driver of productivity growth of urban water sector in both China and the major OECD countries. Besides, the reduction of capital deepening in the water industry and the easing of water stress could improve the water industry's performance in efficiency. While increased foreign direct investment instead reduces the water industry's efficiency, increased R&D expenditure can improve efficiency, but both are not statistically significant. These findings indicate that compared to major OECD countries, China's urban water industry should strengthen the reform change as soon as possible from asset-heavy to asset-light operation and service, and then improve the water conservation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a main method for achieving environmental protection, improvement of environmental efficiency is vitally important for reducing environmental risk and level of ecological scarcity. Thus, quantitative analysis of environmental efficiency is not only an important premise for understanding the situation of regional environmental protection, but also a prerequisite for designing and adjusting relevant policies. In this paper, we treat the undesirable output in an economic activity by a linear monotonic decreasing transformation approach. We employ data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique to evaluate environmental efficiency in 30 provinces of China during the period 2001–2010, and conduct hypothesis tests on these environmental efficiencies. Furthermore, we investigate the horizontal differences of environmental efficiency in six regions of China and the vertical differences among different years. The results show that our empirical tests have a high statistical reliability that provides support for prompting environmental policies in different parts of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has recently become a popular approach in measuring the energy and environmental performance at the macro-economy level. A common limitation of several previous studies is that they ignored the undesirable outputs and did not consider the separation of inputs into energy resources and non-energy resources under the DEA framework. Thus, within a joint production framework of considering both desirable and undesirable outputs, as well as energy and non-energy inputs, this study analyzes China’s regional total-factor energy and environmental efficiency. This paper utilizes improved DEA models to measure the energy and environmental efficiency of 29 administrative regions of China during the period of 2000–2008. In addition, the DEA window analysis technique is applied to measure the efficiency in cross-sectional and time-varying data. The empirical results show that the east area of China has the highest energy and environmental efficiency, while the efficiency of the west area is worst. All three areas of China have similar trends in the variation of efficiency and in general the energy and environmental efficiency of China slightly increased from 2000 to 2008. The regions of the east area have a more balanced development than the regions of the central area and west area according to energy and environmental efficiency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recently, environmental pollution has attracted a lot of attention domestically and internationally. It is known that energy utilization is a major source of China’s environmental pollution. Measuring environmental efficiency of energy utilization in Chinese provinces first, the paper then offers decision supports for relevant departments in order to achieve sustainable development of energy and environment in China. This research chooses CO2 emission as a substitute variable for environmental effects of energy utilization and puts it into the study framework based on total-factor production theory to measure the environmental efficiency of energy utilization of each province and three major regions. On the basis of the above results this research further measures the cost of environmental regulation for each province. Provincial panel data during the period of 2000–2007 are used to carry out empirical study. The analysis indicates that the environmental efficiency of energy utilization in Chinese provinces varies greatly from each other, meaning that both economic output and CO2 emissions need considerable improvement. In addition, the results of empirical study also show that the environmental efficiency of energy utilization in China is quite low. Therefore, to ensure sustainable development of China’s energy, economy and environment, we should resort to advanced technology as the support to promote the efficient and clean utilization of energy resources. Besides, most Chinese provinces have spent quite a lot on environmental regulation, implying that in these provinces development of the economy and the environment are not in harmony. The contributions of this research are as follows: it constructs the models for measuring environmental efficiency of energy utilization in Chinese provinces; it introduces the idea of “environmental regulation” into research system and measures the environmental regulation cost of each Chinese province. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: During the fast developing process of the Chinese economy, China consumes lots of energy and environmental pollution caused by energy consumption currently urgently needs solving. So, paying more attention to energy saving and emission reduction is very important. Therefore, to reasonably allocate resources and reduce emissions in China’s different regions has practical significance. So this paper firstly considers the model construction method for resource allocation considering undesirable outputs between different decision making units based on the DEA framework under the CRS and VRS assumption. We have proposed some resource allocation models as a multiple objective linear problem which considers the input reduction, desirable output reduction and undesirable output reduction. Then, to demonstrate the practical application of the resource allocation model, numerical examples are used to illustrate the approach. In addition, we explore the resource allocation problem of China’s regions in 2006–2010. The empirical results show that the resource allocation models dealing with undesirable outputs have effective configuration results, that is, the reduction proportion for desirable output is smaller than the reduction proportion for undesirable output. From the resource allocation results in China’s regions, we find that the eastern area has more emission reduction than the central and western areas corresponding to the same energy consumption reduction, and the energy and environmental policy should focus more on the central and western areas. All of these conclusions will give some policy recommendations on saving energy and reducing pollution emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper addresses super-efficiency issue based on input relaxation model in stochastic data envelopment analysis. The proposed model is not limited to using the input amounts of evaluating DMU, and one can obtain a total ordering of units by using this method. The input relaxation super-efficiency model is developed in stochastic data envelopment analysis, and its deterministic equivalent, also, is derived which is a nonlinear program. Moreover, it is shown that the deterministic equivalent of the stochastic super-efficiency model can be converted to a quadratic program. As an empirical example, the proposed method is applied to the data of textile industry of China to rank efficient units. Finally, when allowable limits of data variations for evaluating DMU are permitted, the sensitivity analysis of the proposed model is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the influence of competition and aviation policy reform (for example, the airport localization program and listing airports on stock markets) in China on the efficiency of Chinese airports. By using Data Envelopment Analysis, we estimate both the productivity level and its growth for 25 sample Chinese airports. After controlling for hub status and other airports'' characteristics, we find that: (i) publicly listed airports are significantly more efficient than non-listed airports; (ii) airports with more competition are more efficient than their counterparts; (iii) the airports'' efficiency and the technical progress are positively correlated with the airport localization program; and (iv) the impacts of open-skies agreements and airline mergers on the airports'' efficiency are statistically insignificant. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Safety-adjusted transportation efficiency is developed to account for accidents. • Safety-adjusted transportation efficiency reveals distinctive information. • China's safety-adjusted transportation efficiency evolved along a U-shaped path. • China's safety-adjusted efficiency converges but the regular efficiency diverges. Traffic accident is a grievous problem that costs more than one million lives worldwide every year, but remains understudied in transportation efficiency literature. This paper develops safety-adjusted transportation efficiency to account for the negative outcomes in transportation including accidents, fatalities, injuries and property loss. We model the transportation efficiency under the data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework by treating the accident-related negative outcomes as undesirable outputs. Two DEA models, based on radial and non-radial structures respectively, are proposed for panel data. We apply the methods to 31 provinces in China over a 20-year horizon 1998–2017. We find that the evolution of China's overall safety-adjusted transportation efficiency follows a U-shaped path: It deteriorated between 1998 and 2002, steadily improved from 2002 to 2012, and stabilized during 2012–2017. The majority of the provinces improved their safety-adjusted transportation efficiency from 1998 to 2017, except for one province that maintained the status quo and three provinces that experienced a decline in performance. Improvement analysis is carried out to identify gaps in accident-related factors that each province should close to attain best-practice. Further, we find strong evidence of unconditional β -convergence and σ -convergence in safety-adjusted transportation efficiency, indicating that the provinces with low initial efficiency generally grew more rapidly and the dispersion of provincial efficiency levels diminished. The main findings are substantially different from the regular transportation efficiency analysis that does not consider the accident-related undesirable factors. The safety-adjusted transportation efficiency can convey important information that the regular transportation efficiency fails to capture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The output loss between cooperation and non-cooperation strategies for areas 1–4 (2012–2016). • Environmental control parameters are set to manipulate multiple situations. • Non-equal proportional change of indices and preference coefficient for ports are proposed. • A distance formula of expected output for PM emission reallocation is provided. • New DEA models are applied to 11 Chinese main ports. The emission of particulate matter (PM) and other atmospheric pollutants in port operations and shipping have caused a huge negative impact on the environment. Consequently, how to evaluate the environmental efficiency of ports and put forward corresponding countermeasures on this basis is becoming a more important issue than ever before from the perspectives of the government, academia, and society. We construct three data envelopment analysis (DEA) models to evaluate the environmental efficiency of ports under the circumstances of environmental control, non-environmental control and PM emission through inter-ports cooperation. The innovation of the DEA models constructed in this paper lies in: (1) Setting environmental control parameters to uniformly manipulate the situations of environmental control and non-environmental control, etc.; (2) Allowing non-equal proportional change of input index, expected output and non-expected output index; (3) Setting preference coefficients for ports to admit favorable decisions; (4) Providing a distance formula of expected output for PM emission reallocation. Further, data from 11 major ports in China are collected to compare the expected output under different PM emission standards assuming the situation of environmental control and non-environmental control, port cooperation, and non-cooperative sewage discharge. The empirical results show that: (1) Ports in the eastern China (Shanghai, Ningbo, and Nanjing) have higher port efficiency; (2) Port cooperation can improve the overall expected output but it will lose its edge with the improvement of PM emission standards. (3) Ports follow the same trend of output loss regardless of favorable decisions. In the end, the author makes a summary, puts forward relevant policy suggestions and makes the recommendation for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]