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Cross-country comparison of the efficiency of the European forest sector and second stage DEA approach

  • S.I.: Agriculture Analytics, BigData and Sustainable Development
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Abstract

In this paper the relative efficiency of the forest sector of 28 EU/EFTA countries during the period 2010–2015 is assessed using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Three non-discretionary inputs (persons employed, forest available for wood supply and initial growing stock) are considered. The outputs are roundwood production, gross value added and final growing stock. The proposed DEA model not only computes efficiency scores but also improvement targets. The countries with the lowest efficiency scores during the period under study are Greece, Bulgaria and Italy. In the second stage, a fractional regression model is fitted and the factors that have an influence on the estimated efficiency are identified. The factors that have an influence are GDP and belonging to the NORTH Europe and CENTRAL-WEST Europe regions. Quantitative estimates of the partial effects of these factors are provided. The results can contribute in providing guidance towards the best practice in roundwood production.

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Acknowledgements

This research was carried out with the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Grant DPI2017-85343-P. The authors wish to thank the Ibero-American Program for the Development of Science and Technology, and the Red Iberoamericana BigDSSAgro (Reference No. P515RT0123) for their support of this work and Professor Kristof de Witte (KU Leuven) for providing the code of the conditional efficiency framework. Finally, the authors also appreciate the constructive comments and suggestions of the reviewers, which have helped to improve the paper.

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  1. Department of Industrial Management, Escuela Superior de Ingenieros, Universidad de Sevilla, Camino de los Descubrimientos, s/n, 41092, Seville, Spain

    Ester Gutiérrez & Sebastián Lozano

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Correspondence to Ester Gutiérrez.

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Gutiérrez, E., Lozano, S. Cross-country comparison of the efficiency of the European forest sector and second stage DEA approach. Ann Oper Res 314, 471–496 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-020-03756-9

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