Global Malmquist Productivity Index Research Articles

The Impact of Port Total Factor Productivity on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Port Cities: Evidence from the Yangtze River Ports

This paper investigates the relationship between port productivity and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in port cities. The study initially employs the global Malmquist productivity index (MPI) to measure productivity growth in 16 major inland ports along the Yangtze River, obtaining data on the ports’ total factor productivity (TFP). Through an analysis using the panel data model with two-way fixed effects, we find a positive correlation between the improvement of port TFP and the increase in CO2 emissions in port cities. Further panel quantile regression analysis reveals the heterogeneity of this impact, especially in cities with medium and higher CO2 emissions, where the positive effects of TFP on carbon emissions are particularly significant. The study also indicates a threshold effect of port size in the relationship between TFP and CO2 emissions: in smaller ports, the impact of TFP improvement on CO2 emissions is less significant; however, once the port size exceeds a certain threshold, the growth in TFP significantly promotes an increase in CO2 emissions. These findings provide theoretical justification and decision-making references for policymakers to adopt effective measures to mitigate the growth of CO2 emissions while promoting the efficiency of port production.

Nash Bargaining Game Enhanced Global Malmquist Productivity Index for Cross-Productivity Index

The Global Malmquist Productivity Index (GMPI) stands as an evolution of the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI), emphasizing global technology to incorporate all-time versions of Decision-Making Units (DMUs). This paper introduces a novel approach, integrating the Nash Bargaining Game model with GMPI to establish a Cross-Productivity Index. Our primary objective is to develop a comprehensive framework utilizing the Nash Bargaining Game model to derive equitable common weights for different time versions of DMUs. These weights serve as a fundamental component for cross-evaluation based on GMPI, facilitating a holistic assessment of DMU performance over varying time periods. The proposed index is designed with essential properties: feasibility, non-arbitrariness concerning the base time period, technological consistency across periods, and weight uniformity for GMPI calculations between two-time versions of a unit. This research amalgamates cross-evaluation and global technology while employing geometric averages to derive a conclusive cross-productivity index. The core motivation behind this methodology is to establish a reliable and fair means of evaluating DMU performance, integrating insights from Nash Bargaining Game principles and GMPI. This paper elucidates the rationale behind merging the Nash Bargaining Game model with GMPI and outlines the objectives to provide a comprehensive Cross-Productivity Index, aiming to enhance the robustness and reliability of productivity assessments across varied time frames.

Analyzing the efficiency of the Indian hotel industry using the Malmquist DEA approach

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine the most efficient hotels in the Indian hotel industry, the competitive positioning of these hotels, and the factors that affect their efficiency change.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducts a two-stage analysis and uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Global Malmquist productivity index (MPI) approach in the first stage to calculate the managerial performance of a panel of 63 Indian hotels in 2019–2020 and their efficiency change from 2009–2010 to 2019–2020. Bootstrapped generalized least square (GLS) approach is applied in the second stage to evaluate the impact of contextual variables on efficiency change.FindingsUsing the results of the first stage analysis, the authors categorized the 63 Indian hotels into 7 distinct clusters. These clusters represent different levels of competitiveness and pace of growth. The GLS regression reveals a U-shaped relationship between hotel size and efficiency change and a negative relationship between pro social investments and efficiency.Originality/valueThis is the first study in the hotel industry that has used global MPI as a measure of efficiency change in the first stage and GLS in the second stage. In the Indian context, to the best of authors’ knowledge, no such study exists.

Productivity change of airlines: A global total factor productivity index with network structure

Airlines require more effective utilization of resources and pursuit of innovation in their operations in order to meet the challenges of rising competition, increased costs of operation, and reduced profit margins. Competitive advantage can be better understood through productivity analysis. The popular technique utilized in airline productivity literature, the geometric mean Malmquist productivity index, is non-circular, sensitive to infeasibility, and for adjacent period components it provides different measurements of change in productivity. Moreover, the network structure of an airline's internal operation arises because of the unstorable nature of airline services. This internal structure should be accounted for while assessing the productivity changes of airlines. To eschew the limitations of the geometric mean Malmquist productivity index and open the black box of an airline's process of operation, this paper develops a novel network data envelopment analysis-based global Malmquist productivity index to evaluate the change in productivity of global airlines based on the individual internal stages. The proposed method further decomposes the productivity change in two ways. One way decomposes the productivity change into efficiency change and technological change assuming constant returns to scale. Another way decomposes the productivity change into the pure technical efficiency change, pure technological change, and the contribution of economies of scale based on the variable returns to scale. The empirical results indicate that improvement in efficiency is the key source of the productivity gains of the overall system, the first stage, as well as the second stage. Furthermore, the productivity improvement of the first and second stages simultaneously drives the overall productivity progress. Most airlines experience productivity growth in the sample period.

Decomposition of Green Agriculture Productivity for Policy in Africa: An Application of Global Malmquist–Luenberger Index

Previous research on agricultural productivity in Africa has focused on conventional Total Factor productivity (TFP) growth rather than Green Total factor productivity (GATFP) growth, thus ignoring the effect of undesirable outputs such as emissions. This has raised concerns about the sustainability of agricultural productivity growth in the continent. The study was designed to examine GATFP growth in agricultural productivity for 49 African nations from 2000 to 2019. We apply the Global Malmquist–Luenberger (GML) Productivity Index, which complies with the sustainable development agenda that promotes greater production of desirable outputs and minimising unwanted outputs. This approach is also compared to Global Malmquist (GM) Productivity Index which ignores unwanted outputs, yielding to conventional TFP growth. We found an average GATFP growth of 0.6% and TFP growth at 0.9% suggesting that the actual agricultural productivity growth is overstated if agricultural emissions are disregarded. Both estimates fell short of the desired annual target of 7% from the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). Regional growth is mostly characterised by high (low) GATFP and TFP except in Southern Africa and East Africa. The two regions represent an ideal situation where GATFP exceeds TFP. At country level growth can be divided into three scenarios: desired growth, where GATFP exceeds TFP; balanced growth with both estimates equivalent; and undesired growth, where TFP exceeds GATFP. Unfortunately, most African nations fall in the last scenario. We conclude that policies must be developed to encourage sustainable agricultural productivity growth in Africa.

How does digital economy affect green total factor productivity? Evidence from China.

To date, digital economy has become an emerging driving force of economic growth in various countries. To further explore the green value of digital economy, full array polygon graphic index method and Global Malmquist productivity index are used to evaluate China's digital economy development and green total factor productivity respectively. Based on a comprehensive explanation of the influence mechanism, spatial econometric model and intermediary effect model are constructed to test the spatial spillover effect and transmission mechanism between digital economy and green total factor productivity. The results show that digital economy has a positive direct impact and spatial spillover effect on green total factor productivity with the significant U-shaped characteristics, and these effects mainly come from the promotion of green technology progress by digital economy. Industrial structure upgrading and factor market distortion respectively account for 22 % and 5.875 % of the impact of digital economy on green total factor efficiency, which means that they are the two primary channels for digital economy to influence green total factor productivity. Results of heterogeneity analysis show that digital economy is the key factor for resource-based cities to break the "resource curse", but the unbalanced development of digital economy leads to the "digital gap" between the central and peripheral cities.

Policy, technical change, and environmental efficiency: Evidence of China's power system from dynamic and spatial perspective

Feed-in tariff (FIT) and renewable portfolio standard (RPS) policies have been implemented to facilitate wind and solar power technologies with the aim of achieving sustainable development in power system. It is essential to study how efficient these policies are in accelerating technical progress and how efficient the power system is in balancing development and environmental protection. Dynamic network data envelopment analysis and the global Malmquist productivity index are first employed to study the environmental efficiency and technical progress, after which a dynamic spatial Durbin model is applied to analyze the impact of policies on technical progress. The results reveal that both FIT and RPS lead to technical progress which is the main driving force in environmental efficiency improvement, but that RPS performs better than FIT. From a spatial perspective, the adjacent regions usually show similar characteristics in technical progress. Therefore, future policy design should carefully consider the regional agglomeration effects and should effectively strengthen the implementation of RPS policy.

A Modified Russell Measure for Estimating Efficiency Changes in the Presence of the Undesirable Outputs and Stochastic Data

Although data envelopment analysis (DEA) assumes deterministic data, a great volume of data might be stochastic. The global Malmquist productivity index (GMPI) is a highly effective instrument for productivity analysis in DEA. This paper extends GMPI in the presence of stochastic data. Our new stochastic DEA model is a chance-constrained programming model, which is converted to a deterministic programming problem with a linear objective function and quadratic constraints. For efficiency evaluation purposes, in this paper, the weak disposability principle is used to model Russell’s measure in the presence of undesirable outputs. The main contribution of this paper is to develop a global Russell model with stochastic data. A case study is presented to illustrate the applicability of the proposed models.

Productivity Analysis of Municipal Solid Waste Collection in Italy using SBM DEA Malmquist Index

This paper presents a productivity analysis of municipal solid waste collection in Italian provinces from 2010 to 2019. Particularly, the total factor productivity was measured by computing the non-parametric Global Malmquist Productivity Index implementing Slack Based Measure Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM-DEA). Findings show that the productivity of the sorted waste collection service slightly grew from 2010 to 2019. Such growth was due to an increase of the technical efficiency and an improvement of the service technology. However, in some years the efficiency changes and productivity increase were affected by the rise of the per capita production of waste.

Dual Efficiency and Productivity Analysis of Renewable Energy Alternatives of OECD Countries

This paper examines the dual efficiency of bioenergy, renewable hydro energy, solar energy, wind energy, and geothermal energy for selected OECD countries through an integrated model with energy, economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Two questions are explored: Which renewable energy alternative is more dual efficient and productive? Which renewable energy alternative is best for a particular country? Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used for the efficiency evaluation, and the global Malmquist productivity index is applied for productivity analysis. Results indicate bioenergy as the most efficient renewable energy alternative with a 20% increase in average efficiency in 2016 compared to 2012. Renewable hydro energy, wind energy, and solar energy show a 17.5%, 16%, and 11% increase, respectively. The average efficiency growth across all renewable energy alternatives signifies major advancement. Country performance in renewable energy is non-monolithic; therefore, they should customize their renewable energy portfolio accordingly to their strengths to enhance renewable energy efficiency. Renewable hydro appears to have the most positive productivity change in 2016 compared to 2012, while solar energy regressed in productivity due to its scale inefficiency. All renewable energy alternatives have relatively equal average pure efficiency change. The positive trend in efficiency and productivity provides an incentive for policy makers to pursue further development of renewable energy technologies with a focus on improving scale efficiency.

Assessing the financial performance of airlines in the Asia-Pacific region

In recent years, the aviation industry in the Asia-Pacific region has experienced rapid growth. Despite facing thin and volatile profit margins, the region’s airlines continue to expand their capacity by using high financial leverage, raising concerns of whether they are utilizing such financial leverage effectively and how it affects their stock performance. Using the global Malmquist productivity index and the conditional value-at-risk measure, this study investigates the financial performance of 22 Asia-Pacific-based airlines during 2016–2019. The empirical results reveal that only three full-service airlines were able to maintain continued improvement in financial efficiency during the sample period. The excessive use of financial leverage among low-cost carriers is documented. To assess the sources of financial inefficiency, this study decomposed the global Malmquist productivity index into two components: efficiency change and technical change. The results show that while there was a trend toward efficiency catch-up among the carriers, the number of airlines that demonstrated sufficient technical change declined significantly, indicating the need to implement technological innovation to deliver better financial outcomes. Regarding the airline’s stock return performance, airlines that achieved continuously superior performance in deploying financial resources also saw the lowest downside risk in their stock returns, reinforcing the importance of devoting more attention to indebtedness and the effectiveness with which financial resources are used. The findings of this study offer suggestions to airlines in managing their capital structure and enhancing their financial stability.

A new SBM-based global Malmquist productivity index and target setting

The global Malmquist productivity index is a tool for measuring productivity change. It has two advantages with respect to the conventional Malmquist productivity index: it is circular and the infeasibility of the mixed period models does not happen. One drawback of the global Malmquist productivity index is to ignore slacks in its computations. In this paper, we follow four main goals: (1) we show that ignoring the slacks sometimes leads to misleading results; (2) we introduce a new slack-based measure (SBM)-based global Malmquist productivity index to overcome this drawback; (3) we will use the new index to determine a target for each inefficient unit in a dynamic way so that the proposed target has the most progress in its productivity among all the observed possible targets; (4) we propose a new mix-integer linear programming model to determine all the observed possible targets. Finally, we apply the proposed approach to the dataset of eighteen Canadian power companies to demonstrate the applicability of the method.

Measuring the environmental protection efficiency and productivity of the 49 largest iron and steel enterprises in China

China is the largest source of carbon emissions in the world, and the Chinese iron and steel sector is the main contributor to the growth in greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to excessive greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and global warming have seriously threatened the survival of animals, plants and even humans. To cope with global climate problems, it is our responsibility to establish environment-friendly iron and steel enterprises. In this study, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to evaluate the environmental protection performance of China’s iron and steel enterprises based on the panel data during 2015–2017. We first establish an environment-related index system for the industry and build a range-adjusted measure model. Then, the global Malmquist productivity index based on DEA is introduced to analyse environmental efficiency and environmental productivity. The results show that most Chinese iron and steel enterprises achieved high environmental efficiency. However, many enterprises exhibited low environmental productivity and especially Shougang Group, HBIS Tangsteel and Anyang Iron and Steel continued to decline from 2015 to 2017. In general, Valin Hengyang and Shaanxi Iron and Steel achieved better performance in environmental protection. Based on the above results, the environmental problems in our country are still very serious. Thus, the government needs to formulate suitable environmental regulations to reduce the gap between the global frontier and contemporaneous frontier over two periods. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should introduce some advanced environmental technologies to improve their technical level and environmental protection level.

Research on grain production efficiency in China's main grain producing areas from the perspective of financial support.

Grain production is vital to the national economy and people's livelihood, and improving grain production efficiency is of great significance to the sustainable development of China's economy and society. From the perspective of financial support, using the DEA global Malmquist productivity index model and based on the data of 13 main grain producing areas in China from 2001 to 2017, this paper discusses the evolution characteristics and regional distribution differences of the total factor productivity index of grain production in China's main grain producing areas. The results show that from 2001 to 2017, the total factor productivity index of grain production in China's main grain producing areas showed an overall fluctuation trend of gradual decline, with an average annual decline of 7.3%. From the perspective of spatial analysis, the grain production efficiency in China's main grain producing areas is characterized by uneven spatial development, which is generally manifested as the decreasing trend from the central region to the eastern and western regions. Meanwhile, it can be seen from the decomposition index that the change of total factor productivity of grain production in China's main grain producing areas mainly depends on the change of technical efficiency.

PRODUCTIVITY ASSESSMENT OF THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY IN CHINA: A TWO-STAGE MALMQUIST PRODUCTIVITY INDEX

Considering that the real estate industry is a critical industry to promote the economy in China, it is necessary to measure the real estate performance. However, few studies about the performance evaluation of China’s real estate industry have focused on the production process. To fill this gap, this paper proposes a two-stage framework to investigate the real estate productivity of 30 sample provinces on mainland China from 2008 to 2015, based on a common-weight global Malmquist productivity index (MPI). The major findings are shown as follows: (a) the real estate efficiency is low, and it is mainly caused by the inefficiency in the sales stage, not the development stage; (b) the development trend of the real estate sector in China is sensitive to the government policies, and the fluctuations of MPI are consistent with the direction of policy adjustment during the observation period; (c) as for the regional analysis of MPI, we introduce the concept of the dependence degree of the economy on the real estate industry and predict that MPI in economically underdeveloped regions may decline in the future. Finally, policy recommendations are provided for the high-quality development of China’s real estate industry.

Can energy efficiency progress reduce PM2.5 concentration in China’s cities? Evidence from 105 key environmental protection cities in China, 2004–2015

At present, PM2.5 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 PM2.5, 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 PM2.5 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 PM2.5 in sample cities, and the energy efficiency progress can significantly inhibit the PM2.5 pollution in local and adjacent cities. The influence of each explanatory variable on PM2.5 concentration is mainly composed of the spatial spillover effect.

The productivity of national innovation systems in Europe: Catching up or falling behind?

Innovation is one of the main determinants of economic development in modern societies. The extant evidence points to increasing territorial disparities in Europe concerning innovation. Relying on production theory, we examine the nature of these disparities. In particular, we are interested in finding out whether catching up processes are stronger than the shifts of the technology frontier, which would lead to a convergence of national innovation systems, or if, on the contrary, technological change is sounder than catching up, leading to increasing divergence in the performance of innovation systems. To capture these underlying dynamics, we apply the global Malmquist productivity index to the data included in the 2019 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard, which includes statistical information for the period 2011–2018. The evolution shown by the global Malmquist productivity over time demonstrates that productivity gains as a result of innovation are falling. Our results evidence that innovation activities do not necessarily imply technological improvements. Furthermore, innovation activities do not prompt follower and lagging countries to catch up with more advanced ones. The paper also explores the policy implications of the previous results.

Haze pollution, new-type urbanization and regional total factor productivity growth: based on a panel dataset involving all 31 provinces within the territory of China

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of regional total factor productivity (TFP) growth and explores how haze pollution and different levels of new-type urbanization affect China’s economic growth. Design/methodology/approach This paper constructs an index for evaluating the TFP growth of China’s 31 provinces by integrating slack-based measures and the Global Malmquist (GM) productivity index. Meanwhile, the panel threshold estimation method is used to examine the complex relationships among haze pollution, new-type urbanization and TFP growth. Findings The results reflect conspicuous spatiotemporal heterogeneity in TFP growth in China. Interestingly, the influence of haze pollution on TFP growth is limited by the “critical mass” of new-type urbanization in China. When new-type urbanization does not cross the first threshold, haze pollution has a negative but non-significant effect on TFP growth. When new-type urbanization crosses the first threshold but not the second, haze pollution has a significant positive impact on TFP growth. When new-type urbanization crosses the second threshold, haze pollution significantly and positively affects TFP growth with the strongest positive effect. Originality/value This study innovates by combining haze pollution and TFP growth and proposing an integrated framework from the perspective of new-type urbanization, providing insight into how different degrees of new-type urbanization impact the mechanism between haze pollution and TFP growth. Using panel data in China and emphasizing green development, a sustainable economy and new-type urbanization, this study contributes to the current studies on haze pollution and economic development based on developed countries.

Integrated airline productivity performance evaluation with CO2 emissions and flight delays

This paper evaluates the airline productivity change by applying a modified global Malmquist productivity index (GMPI) model, incorporating both CO2 emissions and flight delays. Statistical inference is also performed on the GMPI results using the bootstrapping method. Empirical research was conducted on 15 international airlines during 2011-2017. The obtained results showed that the productivity of all airlines had been fluctuating and experienced a slight increase over 2011–2017. Most of these 15 airlines made more progress in managing punctuality than CO2 emissions. High punctuality policy may not be the best choice for all airlines when considering financial constraints, while airlines in more liberalized aviation markets are more likely to improve productivity by reducing flight delays. Efficiency change and technological change were the major driving factors for the growth of airline productivity. European and US airlines benefitted more from superior technology, while most Asian and Oceanian airlines still benefitted from the advantage of efficiency. Based on the findings, specific management advice was given.

Productivity Change Trend Analysis of Medical Device Export Manufacturers Using the Global Malmquist Productivity Index

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to analyze the trend of productivity changes of medical device export manufacturers by using the global Malmquist productivity index. Design/methodology/approach – The global Malmquist productivity index was used in this study. In the productivity analysis, total assets, equity, tangible assets, intangible assets, employment costs, selling expenses, and general administrative costs were used as input variables while sales and gross profit were used as output variables. Data for this empirical analysis were obtained from 128 medical device manufacturers for a period of six years from 2013 to 2018 using the KISVAUL DB. Findings - The results of this study are as follows: First, the productivity of medical device manufacturers declined by 2.3% every year for six years due to pure technical efficiency change and best practice gap. Second, during the same period, productivity of exporting firms declined by 2.5% per year, while non-exporting firms experienced an average annual decline of 2.2%. Third, corporate group productivity and stand-alone firms’ productivity declined 2.3% each year over the same period. Fourth, productivity of large-sized firms increased by 1.8% per year, while that of small and medium-sized firms decreased by 0.3% per year. Research implications or Originality - Exporting firms should improve productivity by enhancing their pure technical efficiency and promoting technological progress.