Water losses: A productivity analysis of the water supply in Portugal
Abstract: Environmental concerns have increasingly influenced production processes, particularly in recent years, as natural resources become progressively scarce. Among these, water remains the most critical resource, further exacerbated by climate change and its associated challenges, such as frequent droughts, especially in warm and mild-climate regions like Southern Europe. This study analyzes the performance of the Portuguese water supply sector, focusing on a sample of 116 water utilities between 2013 and 2021, representing diverse geographic and management structures. The production process is conceptualized as a non-linear joint-production process, incorporating water losses as an undesirable output within performance evaluations. By applying exponential Hicks-Moorsteen and Malmquist indices within a non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis framework, this study provides an assessment of the efficiency and productivity trends in the sector. The findings offer insights into how Portuguese water utilities manage resources under environmental and infrastructural constraints, with a focus on reducing water losses and enhancing sustainable practices.
Integrating soil natural capital into agricultural total factor productivity analysis
Abstract: Farm productivity is influenced by various factors, notably economic and soil components. Understanding the interplay between these elements is crucial for enhancing agricultural performance. This paper presents an approach to assess agricultural productivity, focusing on soil characteristics alongside traditional economic factors. Drawing upon the framework of the Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen productivity indicator, we propose an Agricultural Soil Productivity (ASP) measurement. By integrating soil dynamics into productivity analysis, our method offers a comprehensive understanding of farm performance. Through empirical investigation, we demonstrate the applicability of the ASP indicator in agricultural productivity assessment based on a non-parametric analytical framework. This paper contributes to the discourse on sustainable agriculture by bridging the gap between economic performance and soil health considerations, and by providing practitioners with valuable insights to enhance farm management practices.
Commensurability of performance metrics in production management
Abstract: This chapter examines the commensurability condition, also known as the unit invariance property, of performance measurements in production economics or related areas. This notion is presented through efficiency and productivity measures. This property is crucial for practitioners to obtain robust and reliable performance metrics, enabling them to adopt appropriate management strategies in production management. To emphasize the significance of this property in production management, the chapter begins by presenting the key performance metrics commonly used in the field. It then explains the commensurability condition through the lens of these metrics. This discussion highlights the practical implications of this property in production management, particularly in scenarios where management strategies depend on accurate performance evaluation.
Abstract: This paper aims to define an unified framework to analyse environmentally-adjusted productivity change. Equivalence conditions for additive and multiplicative environmentally-adjusted productivity indicators and indices are highlighted. Besides, an empirical illustration is provided considering non parametric convex neutral by-production model.
The energy-economic environmental productivity growth nexus: a micro-economic approach
Abstract: This chapter aims to analyse the environmental Energy-Economic (E-E) productivity growth nexus. Indeed, innovative environmental E-E productivity measures are introduced through a general convex neutral framework. Moreover, the impacts of input and output environmental quality change on the environmental E-E productivity variation are laid out, by separating non polluting and polluting components. A general decomposition of the new ratio- and difference-based environmental E-E productivity measures is proposed, displaying the main drivers of the environmental E-E productivity growth. Finally, empirical implementation procedure is provided through a non parametric analytic framework.
Environmental Productivity Assessment: An Illustration with the Ecuadorian Oil Industry
Abstract: This paper assesses the performance of 20 Ecuadorian petroleum industry over the period 2014–2018, using the pollution-adjusted Malmquist (PM) and Hicks–Moorsteen (PHM) productivity indices within a convex neutral analytical framework. Indeed, to the best of our knowledge, the environmental performance variation of the Ecuadorian oil industry has never been investigated hitherto in the literature. Moreover, the existing literature that analyses the environmental performance change of oil industries applied the Malmquist productivity index by considering a convex production set. However, the convexity assumption results in ignoring possible non-linearities in the production process. Also, the performed PM and PHM in this paper are decomposed and disaggregated to provide the main drivers of both economic and polluting productivity change. Finally, the performance change assessment is carried out through a nonparametric enumerative method that is defined in the paper.
A Generalization of Environmental Productivity Analysis
Abstract: This paper aims to analyze environmental Total Factor Productivity (TFP) change. Indeed, innovative environmental TFP measures are introduced through convex and non convex environmental production processes. Hence, the impacts of input and output quality change on environmental productivity variation are underscored. In addition, general decomposition of the new ratio- and difference-based environmental TFP measures is proposed. Finally, an empirical example is provided to illustrate these propositions.
Pollution-adjusted Productivity Analysis: The Use of Malmquist and Luenberger Productivity Measures
Abstract: This paper aims to define pollution-adjusted Malmquist and Luenberger productivity measures through generalized pollution-adjusted production technology. This axiomatic framework is fairly weak and does not require any convexity property for the production technology. Hence, a general context to analyse and decompose pollution-adjusted productivity change is introduced. Decomposing productivity measures allows to determine the sources of productivity variation and is of interest to define recommendations for decision makers.
On the Axiomatic of Pollution-generating Technologies: Non-Parametric Production Analysis
Abstract: This paper analyses the concept of Pollution-generating Technologies (PgT). Following the notion of output congestion, a suitable B -disposable assumption is introduced. This approach aims to reveal any PgT in production processes that are compatible with a minimal set of assumptions. Thus, a more general class of PgT (convex and non-convex) is defined. An empirical illustration is proposed to give an illustrative example of the new B -disposal assumption with respect to convex and non-convex non-parametric technologies.
Surplus Measures and Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen Productivity Indicator
Abstract: This paper extends to production theory some notions of compensated and equivalent variation analyzed in Luenberger (Econ Theory 7:445–462, 1996) in a consumer context. Along this line the Luenberger–Hicks–Moorsteen productivity indicator introduced in Briec and Kerstens (Econ Theory 23:925–939, 2004) is derived from these concepts for multi-output production technologies. The dual properties of this productivity indicator are analyzed and an aggregate indicator is introduced inspired from the resource function proposed in Luenberger (1996). A connection to a suitable Slutsky matrix is established.
Exponential Environmental Productivity Index and Indicators
Abstract: The major contributions of this paper are twofold. First, it introduces an exponential environmental productivity indicator and its ratio-based counterpart constructed through an exponential distance function. These innovative exponential environmental productivity index and indicator inherit the basic structure of both Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index and environmental Luenberger productivity indicator. Thereafter, an exponential version of the environmental Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen productivity indicator is proposed. Such a specification allows to overcome the special issue of infeasabilities. Second, looking from a dynamical viewpoint, we propose an exponential generalized dynamical distance function. This new efficiency measure shows the degree of efficiency of an observation, taking into consideration its technical efficiency and/or technological variation adjustment path. A sample of 11 representative French airports is considered over the period 2008–2011, in order to implement these new exponential environmental productivity index and indicators.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to introduce an environmental generalised productivity indicator and its ratio-based counterpart. The innovative environmental generalised total factor productivity measures inherit the basic structure of both Hicks-Moorsteen productivity index and Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen productivity indicator. This methodological contribution shows that these new environmental generalised total factor productivity measures yield the earlier standard Hicks-Moorsteen index and Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen indicator, as well as environmental performance index, as special cases.
Comparison of Destination Competitiveness Ranking in European Union using non parametric approach
Abstract: This paper seeks to improve accuracy when presenting the tourism performance of European countries and, in particular, the position of destination management organizations, which play a central role in the tourism development of their countries. The paper measures the performance of European countries and endeavours to explain the dispersion of the efficiency ranking scores in the European Union (EU). Three types of methodology are applied to establish the tourism performance of the destinations. The study covers 27 large and small countries in the EU, but excludes Malta. In addition, two representative indicators of output are used: destination attractiveness and annual data on bed-nights and nights spent. Therefore, the paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA), super-efficiency DEA and the non-radial Nerlove–Luenberger super-efficiency DEA model to narrow down the partition between efficiency and inefficiency scores in large and small countries in terms of development.