Two-Stage DEA Analysis of Water Resource Use Efficiency

Chongfeng Ren, Ruihuan Li and Ping Guo
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Chongfeng Ren: Centre for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Tsinghuadong Street No. 17, Beijing 10083, China
Ruihuan Li: Centre for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Tsinghuadong Street No. 17, Beijing 10083, China
Ping Guo: Centre for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Tsinghuadong Street No. 17, Beijing 10083, China

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: This paper presents an extended two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) method for analyzing water resource use efficiency (WRUE) and related WRUE issues, which was developed by introducing regional water resource metabolic theory into the two-stage DEA method. It has the following advantages: (1) it has the ability to reflect the inner difference and connection of the regional water resource consumption process, which developed the corresponding physical model instead of making it a “black box”; (2) the built physical model for WRUE divided the main body of water resource consumption into social and economic subsystems, which can thus elaborate WRUE; (3) it can analyze not only WRUE but also related WRUE issues. The proposed method was applied to a real-case study in Gansu Province, China. Results show that decision makers can determine the comprehensive and accurate WRUE and negative factors of WRUE in Gansu Province. Moreover, the results offer recommendations for decision makers to plan for efficient use of water resources in different cities.

Keywords: regional water resource metabolic theory; two-stage DEA model; water resource use efficiency; socioeconomic development efficiency; sustainable development (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 (6)

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