This paper deals with energy efficiency examined through an integrated model that links energy with environment, technology, and urbanisation as related areas. Our main goal is to discover how efficiently developed countries use primary energy and electricity (secondary energy). We additionally want to find out how the inclusion of environmental care and renewable energy capacity affects efficiency. For that purpose, we set up an output-oriented BCC data envelopment analysis that employs a set of input variables with non-negative values to calculate the efficiency scores on minimising energy use and losses as well as environmental emissions for a sample of 30 OECD member states during the period from 2001 to 2018. We develop a couple of baseline models in which we find that countries have mean inefficiency margins of 16.1% for primary energy and from 10.8 to 13.5% for electricity. The results from the extended models show that taking care about environment does not affect efficiency in general, while the reliance on energy produced from renewable sources does slightly reduce it.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the relative efficiency of commercial banks in three developing countries in Europe (North Macedonia, Serbia, and Croatia) in the period from 2015 to 2019, and to provide targets for improvement for the inefficient banks by using DEA. The variables are selected under the income-based approach. Based on the output-oriented BCC model, unusual results are obtained for a few commercial banks in each country, that is, they are BCC relative efficient, which is contrary to the real situation. In order to identify outliers that can affect the efficiency results, a super-efficiency procedure is applied so that banks with a super-efficiency score higher than 1.2 (outliers) or for which a feasible solution was not found are considered in detail and removed, and then the output-oriented BCC model is rerun. Based on the obtained results, the Macedonian commercial banking system shows the highest efficiency (91.1%), followed by the Croatian (90.9%) and the Serbian (81.9%) banking system. The estimated targets for improvement of the inefficient commercial banks could help their top bank management in better resource allocation and making fact-based and faster decisions by which they can improve the operation of the banks they lead and contribute to the stability of the financial system.

The aim of this paper is to assess the relative efficiency of commercial banks in one developing country, i.e. the Republic of North Macedonia by using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique{window analysis. The selection of inputs and outputs plays a key role when applying DEA for assessing the efficiency of decision-making units (DMUs). In the conducted research two inputs and two outputs have been selected. The sample consists of 14 commercial banks and the period that is being observed is an eleven year span from 2007 to 2017. According to the average efficiency score for the whole observed period, the most efficient bank belongs to the group of large banks, which simultaneously shows the highest efficiency. The banking sector in the Republic of North Macedonia, as a whole, showed the highest efficiency in 2007, and the lowest efficiency in 2011.

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a popular non-parametric frontier methodology for measuring the efficiency of decision-making units (DMUs). DEA has been used widely in the banking industry. There is no reference to country co-authorship and keywords co-occurrence network visualization of DEA in the banking literature. In this study, we examine the DEA literature in banking, taking into account articles published in peer-reviewed journals listed in the Scopus database. We have performed an analysis and visualization of bibliometric data related to 791 DEA articles in banking in the period of 34 years (1986–2019). We show the annual trends of published DEA banking articles, the top journals and authors, citation analysis, and country co-authorship. We have also performed an in-depth keyword visualization analysis and discussed the future trends of DEA in banking.

The countries in the Balkan region report an increase in the number of tourist arrivals and spending but the question that remains is if their overall tourism industry is efficient. Using the methodology data envelopment analysis, this paper analyzes the efficiency of the tourism industry in the Balkans at the macro level. Eleven countries in the Balkan region were included in the research, namely Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey. The period of observation was six years (2010-2015). Two inputs and two outputs were selected. Visitor exports and domestic travel and tourism spending were inputs, while travel and tourism total contribution to GDP and employment were outputs. According to the obtained results, there was no country that was efficient in every year in every window, and it was found that the most efficient country in the whole observed period is Albania, while the least efficient country is Montenegro.