A New Hybrid Approach Based on Data Envelopment Analysis of DFM with Undesirable Output and Cluster Analysis to Evaluate the Sustainable Development of Countries

This study evaluates the performance of Iran and 38 OECD countries by providing a DFM model with undesirable outputs. Comparing the changes in the rate of increase in output and the rate of decrease in inputs for the efficiency of decision units in DFM and CCR models is one of the objectives of this study. This research is applied research in terms of purpose and is descriptive research in terms of implementation. According to the review of the literature and research background of the employed Total labor force, Total primary energy consumption and Gross Capital Formation were considered as input, GDP was considered as a desirable output and total GHG emissions excluding LULUCF, was considered as an undesirable output. The results showed that inefficient countries should make the most change in the input of total primary energy consumption and the least change in the desirable output (GDP) in order to reach the efficiency frontier; therefore, considering energy consumption management can be effective in changing inefficient countries with poor performance in environmental sustainability, such as Iran into efficient ones. The analysis also showed that in order to improve the sustainability in Iran, policymakers should consider reducing energy consumption, increasing labor productivity, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving investment productivity and GDP. According to the research method, two modeling methods of evaluating the efficiency of countries in the field of sustainable development were compared and the advantages of DFM model in comparison to CCR were studied.