Total Factor Productivity Growth in Iran: Presenting a Model with Desirable and Undesirable Outputs

The aim of this research is to present a model based on data envelopment analysis with consideration of desirable and undesirable outputs, and calculation of total factor productivity in Iran and the selected countries. To achieve this goal, a method based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used with consideration of desirable and undesirable outputs for 42 developing and developed countries in the period from 2012 to 2022. The data analysis was performed in GAMS software. The results of this study showed that the growth of total factor productivity until 2017 was upward in Iran, and shortly after a fluctuated trend was reported. Total factor productivity increased from 0.865 to 1.043 in 2017; that is, in has faced a decrease of 13.5 percent in 2013, and has reached a growth of 4.3 percent in total factor productivity in 2017. On the other hand, the results show that after 2017, the growth of total factor productivity in Iran has been fluctuating. In a way that it has even experienced a decrease of 10 percent and an increase of 14.7 percent in 2022.