This paper aims to analyse economic, environmental and resource use efficiency in the European Union agriculture. Specifically, we focus on selected countries specific with rather similar output mix. Different frontier models are defined to analyse the underlying trends in efficiency across the European countries. The data come from the World Input-Output Database and cover the period of 1995- 2009. Frontier models assume weak disposability and consider such variables as labour, capital, energy, land, materials, water, gross value added, and carbon emission. Slovenia, Belgium, France, Austria and Poland appeared to be the most technically efficient countries. Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and Romania also gained considerable competitiveness in terms of eco-efficiency and resource use efficiency thus appearing among most efficient countries under frontier models with undesirable outputs. Latvia, Czech Republic, Estonia, and Hungary emerged as the least efficient countries in terms of agricultural production under all specifications of the frontier models.
JEL codes: C44, Q15.
Keyword(s): data envelopment analysis, eco-efficiency, resource efficiency, technical efficiency, weak disposability.
Makutėnienė, D.; Baležentis, T. 2015. The trends of technical, environmental and resource efficiency across agricultural sectors of European countries. Management theory and studies for rural business and infrastructure development = Vadybos mokslas ir studijos - kaimo verslų ir jų infrastruktūros plėtrai 37(2):241-251. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.15544/mts.2015.22 (ISSN 1822-6760 (print) / ISSN 2345-0355 (online)) [EBSCO, Business Source Complete, Ulrich’s, DOAJ, OAJI, IndexCopernicus, ERIH PLUS andAcademicKeys.com.].
Scentific Publication: The trends of technical, environmental and resource efficiency across agricultural sectors of European countries