An Appraisal of Spatial club convergence of Iran's province-level industrial energy efficiency

The purpose of this study is to analysis of convergence among Iran’s province-level industrial energy efficiency over the period of 2004 to 2013. In this regard, data envelopment analysis method (DEA) was adopted to calculate the total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) of Iran’s provincial industrial energy efficiency and then, using Transition probability matrix of Markov and Matrix of spatial Markov transition probability, club convergence and spatial club convergence is studied. According to the results Semnan and Bushehr provinces had the most energy efficiency in their industrial sector while Ilam and West Azerbaijan provinces had the lowest energy efficiency. In addition, the results suggest province-level industrial energy efficiency in Iran has been globally characterized by “club convergence” So that a high-efficiency spatial lag increased the probability of transmission to high-efficiency club. Thus increasing regional cooperation in provinces with high efficiency in order to strengthen the neighboring provinces could have a positive impact on their efficiency.