Comparative analysis of energy technology gap estimation in SADC, EU, and ASEAN via the energy metafrontier

Abstract

The study employs the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach with three inputs (real capital stock, labor, and energy consumption) and one output (real gross domestic product; real GDP) to examine the energy technology gap at the country level and focuses on three regional organizations, including Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), European Union (EU), and Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), by using the energy metafrontier during the period from 2005 to 2013. With 44 observations (8 in SADC, 28 in the EU, and 8 in ASEAN) and a total of 396 decision-making units in the study, the empirical results show that energy technology in ASEAN hit the energy metafrontier in 2012 and 2013, while energy technology in EU was inferior to that of SADC from 2005 to 2011 after being compared together under the metafrontier framework. There is also a convergent phenomenon on the degree of dispersion in the energy technology gap ratio in both ASEAN and EU after 2008 except for that in SADC. Finally, this study finds that the correlation between real GDP and CO2 emissions exhibits a multi-N-type shape for ASEAN.