This is the first book to fully introduce a newly developed distance friction minimization (DFM) model, which is one of the new efficiency improvement projection approaches in data envelopment analysis (DEA). The DFM model can produce a most effective solution in efficiency improvement projections for inefficient spatial entities (decision-making units). The book provides a set of fresh contributions to a quantitative assessment of the performance of such policy entities. First it offers a state-of-the art overview of current DEA models and approaches, followed by the operational design of various new types of DEA models, each of them addressing weaknesses in traditional DEA approaches. Then it illustrates the assessment potential of DEA - and its new variants, in particular, the DFM model and subsequent extensions - on the basis of a broadly composed collection of empirical case studies, centering mainly but not exclusively on Japan and other Asian nations.