Title: Energy and CO₂ emissions as the determinants of countries' productivity with different levels of economic development

Authors: Christina Bampatsou; George Halkos

Addresses: Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection (ASEP), 6 Pouliou Street, Ampelokipoi, 11523 Athens, Greece ' Laboratory of Operations Research, Department of Economics, University of Thessaly, 43 Korai Street, 38333, Volos, Greece

Abstract: In the present study, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used for the period spanning from 1980 to 2012 and for a total of 32 countries which are classified into four groups, according to their level of development (Developing, BRICS, Developed, G7). DEA allows us to measure technical efficiency under constant and variable returns to scale and also the Malmquist index and its components. Furthermore, we develop an order-α approach for the determination of partial frontiers. An output oriented model is applied. Labour and capital are used as inputs while the GDP index is used as output. Subsequently, energy is incorporated in the model as an additional input and CO₂ emissions as undesirable output. A comparison of productivity indices, allows us to highlight the different levels of productivity, before and after the integration of energy and CO₂ emissions as additional variables, for each group of countries and therefore their sustainability gaps.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis; technical progress; efficiency change; pure efficiency change; scale efficiency change; Malmquist Index; full frontiers; order-α approach; energy; CO₂ emissions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2017.086840

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2017 Vol.40 No.5, pp.277 - 293

Received: 24 Nov 2016
Accepted: 02 Feb 2017
Published online: 29 Sep 2017 *

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