Examining inefficiency in countries with high energy consumption: A benchmarking approach
提出一种改进的基准模型，评估40个高能耗国家在能源、GDP和碳排放方面的低效率，发现油气资源丰富的国家存在“资源诅咒”现象，并指出降低人均能耗和碳排放对提升整体效率既可行又经济。
This study introduces a minimum distance non-radial model, derived from Weighted Russell Directional Distance Model (WRDDM), to assess inefficiency across 40 countries representing 90 % of global energy consumption in 2019. We analyze energy consumption per capita (input), GDP per capita (desirable output), and CO 2 emissions per capita (undesirable output) for 2007 and 2019. The countries are divided into two groups: OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and non-OECD. Our methodological innovation combines WRDDM with closest target models to estimate overall inefficiency and decompose it into GDP, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions per capita, enabling dollar-value comparisons. We found evidence for the “paradox of plenty,” where oil and gas-rich countries show high energy and CO 2 inefficiencies. The results provide valuable insights for establishing equitable and practical benchmarks, fostering international cooperation, and addressing the resource curse . Our findings suggest that reducing per capita energy consumption and CO 2 emissions is both feasible and economically justified for enhancing overall efficiency. Inter alia, we found that while OECD countries improved their energy and CO₂ emission efficiencies between 2007 and 2019, only a few non-OECD countries achieved comparable progress.