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DEA models with undesirable inputs and outputs

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Abstract

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models with undesirable inputs and outputs have been frequently discussed in DEA literature, e.g., via data transformation. These studies were scatted in the literature, and often confined to some particular applications. In this paper we present a systematic investigation on model building of DEA without transferring undesirable data. We first describe the disposability assumptions and a number of different performance measures in the presence of undesirable inputs and outputs, and then discuss different combinations of the disposability assumptions and the metrics. This approach leads to a unified presentation of several classes of DEA models with undesirable inputs and/or outputs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kent Business School, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7PE, UK

    W. B. Liu

  2. School of Public Administration, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China

    W. Meng

  3. Institute of Policy and Management, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100080, China

    X. X. Li & D. Q. Zhang

Authors
  1. W. B. Liu
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  2. W. Meng
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  3. X. X. Li
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  4. D. Q. Zhang
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Correspondence to W. B. Liu.

Additional information

The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to the referees for his or her constructive reviews and suggestions, which lead to significant improvements of this paper.

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Liu, W.B., Meng, W., Li, X.X. et al. DEA models with undesirable inputs and outputs. Ann Oper Res 173, 177–194 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-009-0587-3

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