Environmental efficiency evaluation with left–right fuzzy numbers

Ma-Lin Song (), Yuan-Xiang Zhou, Rong-Rong Zhang and Ron Fisher
Additional contact information
Ma-Lin Song: Anhui University of Finance and Economics
Yuan-Xiang Zhou: Anhui University of Finance and Economics
Rong-Rong Zhang: Anhui University of Finance and Economics
Ron Fisher: Griffith University

Operational Research, 2017, vol. 17, issue 3, No 2, 697-714

Abstract: Abstract Undesirable outputs such as waste and smoke pollution are often produced along with desirable outputs in the production processes of many enterprises. Therefore, when evaluating production efficiency, both desirable and undesirable outputs should be considered simultaneously. Based on the previous data envelopment analysis model, we present a fuzzy slacks-based measure model incorporating a confidence coefficient on the postulation that inputs and outputs are left–right (L–R) fuzzy numbers. In this paper, the model not only solves the input slacks when presetting the confidence coefficient but also solves efficiency evaluation problems when undesirable output exists, thereby expanding the range of applications for environmental efficiency evaluation. Furthermore, it provides a basis for decision making in a wider range of situations to reduce undesirable outputs, control the quantities of pollutants discharged, and improve the environment. To provide an example of this last point, the proposed model is applied to perform an analysis of the industrial environmental performance of 31 provinces in China.

Keywords: Environmental efficiency; Undesirable outputs; Fuzzy sets; Confidence coefficient; Fuzzy slacks-based measure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12351-015-0202-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:operea:v:17:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s12351-015-0202-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... search/journal/12351

DOI: 10.1007/s12351-015-0202-0

Access Statistics for this article

Operational Research is currently edited by Nikolaos F. Matsatsinis, John Psarras and Constantin Zopounidis

More articles in Operational Research from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().