Economic development and emission intensity in Asian countries : A DEA approach

Several Asian countries have achieved rapid economic development, but their development has lead to more rapid environmental pollution. Under these circumstances, this study evaluates the environmental performance of six Asian countries measured by emission intensity index, using a nonparametric Data Envelopment Analysis approach with time-series data for the period 1970-2008.The empirical results are as follows. First, China is the best performer while Thailand is the worst. Second, the six Asian countries improved their production efficiency but deteriorated the environmental efficiency through the 1970s to the 2000s. Third, the environmental performance measured by emission intensity index remained almost unchanged because the improvement of production efficiency offset the deterioration in environmental efficiency.