Evaluation on Economic Efficiency of Provincial Capital Cities in China Based on DEA Model

The purpose of this paper is to make empirical survey on the urban economic efficiency in China taking environmental factors into account, and the influence of environmental factors on it. Firstly, from the perspective of input-output, we constructed an index system for evaluating the urban economic efficiency in China. Secondly, using the DEA model, we evaluated the economic efficiency of 31 provincial capital cities (or municipalities) in China. Therefore; we obtained the DEA values of urban economic efficiency and their sorting result respectively with and without considering environmental factors. Furthermore, we carried out the comparative analysis of sorting and region respectively. Finally, through calculating the dual prices of ineffective decision making units, we presented the optimum improvement strategies. The conclusions of our study are as follows. 1. Considering environmental factors, the urban economic efficiency in China is good in the mass, but the individual variation is so relatively high that means there is unbalanced development between individuals. 2. The environmental factors influence relatively lowly on total output of Beijing, Changsha, Tianjin, Changchun, etc, but relatively highly on that of Zhengzhou, Haikou, etc. 3. The environmental factors cause the urban economic efficiency evaluation values of eastern, central and western regions in China to rise in value. 4. The urban economic efficiency in China develops in unbalanced manner over regions, dropping down from the eastern region, to the central region, further to the western region. The environmental factors have relatively low influence on total output of cities in the central region, but relatively high influence on that in the western region.