China’s Input-Output Efficiency of Water-Energy-Food Nexus Based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Model

Guijun Li, Daohan Huang and Yulong Li
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Guijun Li: School of Management Science and Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China
Daohan Huang: School of Management Science and Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China
Yulong Li: School of Management Science and Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: An explanation and quantification of the water-energy-food nexus (WEF-Nexus) is important to advance our understanding of regional resource management, which is presently in its infant stage. Evaluation of the current states, interconnections, and trends of WEF-Nexus, in cities, has largely been ignored due to quantification hurdles and the lack of available data. Based on the interaction of WEF-Nexus with population system, economic system, and environmental system, this paper builds the input output index system at the city level. Using the input output index system, we evaluate the WEF-Nexus input-output efficiency with the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. We regard the decision making unit as a “black box”, to explore the states and trends of WEF-Nexus. In the empirical study based on data from China, we compare the input-output efficiency of WEF-Nexus in 30 provinces across China, from 2005 to 2014, to better understand their statues and trends of the input-output efficiency holistically. Together with the Malmquist index, factors leading to regional differences in the fluctuation of input-output efficiency are explored. Finally, we conclude that the DEA model indicates the regional consumption of WEF resources in the horizontal dimension and the trends in vertical dimension, together with the Malmquist index, to explain the variations for proposing specific implications.

Keywords: water-energy-food nexus; DEA model; Malmquist index; input-output index system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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