Energy Efficiency in Transportation along with the Belt and Road Countries

China’s huge investment in the “belt and road initiative” (BRI) may have helped improve the economic level of participating countries, but it may also be accompanied by a substantial increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The BRI corridors aim to bring regional stability and prosperity. In such efforts, energy efficiency due to increased transport has been overlooked in the recent literature. This paper employed a data envelopment analysis of the slack-based measurement (SBM) for bad output to assess the transport energy efficiency of 19 countries under the BRI economic corridors. By using the most cited transport-related input variables, such as vehicles, labor, motor oil, jet fuel, and natural gas, this study first analyzes the transport energy efficiency by first assuming the output variables individually and then takes two years as a pre- and post-BRI case by considering the aggregated output model. The results show an increase in economic activity but a decline in transport energy efficiency in terms of consumption and emissions.

Credit risk shocks and banking efficiency: a study based on a bootstrap-DEA model with nonperforming loans as bad output

PurposeThis paper investigates the impact of credit risk shocks on the evolution of banking efficiency in China.Design/methodology/approachThis paper introduces credit risk as a bad output into a bootstrap data envelopment analysis (bootstrap-DEA) model.FindingsDuring a credit risk shock, the efficiency levels of both state-owned commercial banks and joint-stock commercial banks are significantly higher than those of urban/rural commercial banks, and the efficiency differences between these banks further increase during a period of economic slowdown. This paper also finds that the efficiencies of joint-stock commercial banks are the most sensitive to credit risk shocks; these banks are the first to be affected and the first to completely adjust. However, urban/rural commercial banks adjust very slowly.Originality/valueMost scholars still use the traditional DEA method to estimate China's banking efficiency. The bootstrap-DEA method is clearly able to obtain a more exact estimated efficiency score. In fact, in comparison with the bootstrap-DEA model, we found that the traditional DEA method overestimates China's banking efficiency, and this is an especially serious problem for those banks that have a high efficiency score.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Technical Efficiency in Alberta Dairy Production: What Are the Trade-Offs?

The impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction on the efficiency of Alberta’s dairy industry is assessed through a technical efficiency analysis over the period 1996–2016, with and without emissions included as a “bad” output. Environmentally adjusted technical efficiency and technical efficiency estimates are highly correlated; thus, reducing GHG emissions may not result in decreased efficiency. Increased milk per cow, a southern Alberta location, and increased use of forage are associated with greater environmentally adjusted technical efficiency. The opportunity cost of foregone milk revenue associated with reduced emissions is Can$308.29 per metric ton of GHG. The results imply possible policy strategies to reduce emissions.

Generation and distribution of income in Mexico, 1990-2015

Purpose This paper aims to review the efficient use of economic and social resources to generate income and, at the same time, reduce the concentration of wealth in the 32 states of the Mexican Republic during the period 1990-2015. Design/methodology/approach Data envelopment analysis with the inclusion of a bad output was used to diagnose the efficiency of Mexican entities, and the Malmquist–Luenberger index was applied to understand how this efficiency evolves. Findings The results clearly show that only 3 of the 32 units studied generated and distributed wealth efficiently, while the other 29 must increase their level of income and its distribution. Originality/value According to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work that performs a temporal analysis of the efficiency in the generation of Human Development Index using bad outputs and the Malmquist–Luenberger index.

Efficiency Determinants of Microfinance Institutions in India: Two Stage DEA Analysis

Aim: In India, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) emerged as major player in providing microfinance services and therefore such institutions need to be financially sustainable in order to achieve their double bottom-line objective. Besides, Indian MFIs cannot protect themselves from the curse of loan non-repayment. Therefore, this study aims to measure performance of the Indian MFIs and examine whether sustainability has any significant impact on the efficiency of the MFIs. Design / Research methods: In order to gauge the performance of the Indian MFIs, non parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is adopted. Two models of DEA (BCC Model-input oriented and Undesirable Measure Model-output oriented) are applied used for better analysis. Further, to examine the factors influencing efficiency of the MFIs and particularly to answer whether Sustainability has any significant impact on efficiency, Tobit regression is applied in the study. Data of thirty-one Indian MFIs for seven years (2009-2015) are collected from MiX Market for the study. Conclusions / findings: Result of the study shows that average technical efficiency of the MFIs is estimated to be 79 percent under BCC model and 98 percent under Undesirable Measure Model. Indian MFIs can attain production frontier if they can trim their bad output (proxied by Portfolio at Risk 30) to an extent of around 14 percent. Further, the study validates that sustainability (proxied by Operational Self Sufficiency) has positive impact on efficiency. Originality / value of the article: Studies made so far on Indian MFIs have not addressed how the MFIs could become efficient by reducing their undesirable/bad output. Besides, no study so far has analysed the impact of sustainability on efficiency of the Indian MFIs. Therefore, this research tries to fill the existing research gap. Implications of the research: The result of the study can be useful to the Indian Microfinance Industry in improving their performance. The result can further be used by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to frame yardstick for the clients of the MFIs in connection with borrowing loans from MFIs.