Eco-efficiency, Institutions, and Political Orientation : A case study of the European Union

Abstract: This thesis uses the stochastic frontier analysis to estimate efficiency scores for the 28 member countries of the European Union between 2000 and 2019. The material footprints of biomass, non-metallic minerals, metals and fossil fuels are taken as input goods, unlike comparable work, as the overuse of materials is the cause of our current environmental problems. Therefore, production efficiency in the use of materials is the key for sustainability. Furthermore, this thesis will deal with the impact of the environmental influences institutional quality and political orientation of the government on eco-efficiency. The results show that the new approach of measuring the eco-efficiency is viable. The results are in line with previous research. As other studies before, this thesis shows a big gap between the efficiency scores of the old EU members and the ones who joined in or after 2004 throughout all the used models. In addition, institutional quality and political orientation seem to affect the environmental efficiency.