Performance and Productivity Analysis of the European Union Transport Sector: Evidence on Static and Dynamic Decision Models

Abstract

The transportation sector is a major cause of environmental deterioration and a key source of economic growth. A thorough balance should be provided between economic growth and energy consumption for long-term sustainability. In this regard, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) and Malmquist productivity index (MPI) techniques, which can deal with conflicting criteria simultaneously and determine productivity changes, respectively, were employed. In addition, ingrained and novel MCDM approaches simultaneously evaluated European Union (EU) countries’ transport sustainability. EU countries were driven into two equal groups based on their economic development level. Both MCDM techniques are in harmony as regards performance rankings for both groups. MCDM results indicate that highly industrialized members of the EU, such as Germany and France, are top performers as regards transportation sustainability level. The MPI technique findings show that Germany and Poland stand out with their effective dynamic performance figures. In conclusion, Germany performs well as regards both static and dynamic performance. In the transportation field, decision techniques enable stakeholders and decision-makers to construct comprehensive management plans and attain a nuanced understanding of industry performance and productivity.