This paper measures the metafrontier total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) of 47 regions in Japan for the period 1996–2008, using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). The two-step output-oriented SFA approach by Huang et al. (J Prod Anal 42:241–254, 2014) is followed but converted into a...

A two-player model is established in order to examine the effects of environmental policy instruments, budget control, and bribery on decision making of local government and the firms. With or without bribery, the central government can always promote the abatement input by stipulating a higher...