Measuring the productivity evolution of Chinese regional thermal power industries using global Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index

Purpose: This paper aims to measure Chinese regional thermal industries’ evolution. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) and global Malmquist–Luenberger productivity (GMLP) index. Findings: The results reveal that the development of Chinese thermal power industry varies significantly in different regions, and it is highly correlated with the level of local economic development. Although the change of technical efficiency and scale efficiency had different impacts on different regions from year to year, the overall GMLP index change shows a close relationship with the contemporaneous frontier shift. Practical implications: The results indicate that the Chinese Government should make efforts to promote its policy implementations and regulations in thermal industries so that the contemporaneous frontier will shift toward the global technology frontier with more desirable outputs and less undesirable outputs. Originality/value: As an application, this study uses DEA and GMLP index to measure the productivity of Chinese thermal industries in 30 Chinese provinces from 2006 to 2013. The results have the meaningful policy implications for decision makers in charge of Chinese thermal industries.