Performance analysis for three pillars of sustainability

Gross domestic product (GDP) has come under criticism as the only objective that countries should pursue for societal well-being. In this paper we apply an innovative Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach for including two other pillars including an environmental dimension, reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and social efforts for employment, health and education. By linking together three DEA models, we model a global technology that combines the objectives of the three pillars. Finally, by weighting each of them by different schemes, we illustrate the practicality of our approach to analyze policy trade-offs among economic, environmental, and social objectives.