Frontier models for evaluating environmental efficiency: an overview

Our aim in this paper is to provide a succinct overview of frontier-based models used to evaluate environmental efficiency, with a special emphasis on agricultural activity. We begin by providing a brief, up-to-date review of the main approaches used to measure environmental efficiency, with particular emphasis on eco-efficiency models, the materials balance approach and the exergy balance approach. We then review the principal contributions analyzing the determinants of environmental efficiency, and finish by providing some suggestions for future research.