ecostat61-cperoni.pdf

This article analyses the link between environmental and productive efficiency using a non-parametric production frontier approach. A EU-US frontier of environmentally efficient countries, and comparative efficiency scores, are computed using data from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Efficiency scores are interpreted as enhanced measures of carbon intensity and countries are ranked according to their ability to increase production while reducing pollutants. Results show that productive efficiency is considerably lowered when environmental degradation is taken into account. Only two (Luxembourg and Sweden) out of 16 countries are environmentally efficient. Malmquist indices, however, show that environmental performances improved over the period in nearly all countries.