The energy-growth nexus: further evidence from disaggregate renewable energy sources
Event Title
VII Conference of the Spanish-Portuguese Association of Resources and Environmental Economics
Year (definitive publication)
2016
Language
English
Country
Portugal
More Information
Abstract
This study explores the relationship between economic growth and disaggregate renewable
energy sources (hydropower, biomass, wind, and solar energies) in twenty OECD countries over
the period 1993-2012, a period during which the importance of renewable energy sources has
grown substantially, mainly due to their role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Applying
recently developed panel time series techniques, we controls for unobserved heterogeneity and
cross-section dependence between countries. The empirical findings suggest that there is no longrun
relationship between economic growth and the different types of renewable energy.
However, the results of short-run estimation show that different renewables have diverse impacts
on economic growth. While biomass energy production contributes to economic growth, wind
energy generation might have a negative impact on economic activity. The remaining two
renewable energy categories (hydropower and solar energy) don’t appear to affect economic
growth in the short run. The evidence of no interrelationship between the analyzed renewable
energy sources and economic activity might be explained by their relatively low share in total
energy production.
Overall, the estimations results show that substantial renewable energy subsidizing doesn’t harm
economic activity and so suggest continuing governmental support policies towards renewable
energy deployment.
Acknowledgements
--
Keywords
Renewable energy; Economic growth; Panel time series; Cross-sectional dependence