A survey of literature on energy consumption and economic growth

Abstract

This study is a meta-analytic investigation of energy consumption and economic growth. It makes a literature survey on the dynamic causal relationship between broad variables of energy and economic growth for the period 1974–2021. The objective of this study is to investigate stationarity, cointegration and direction of causality between energy consumption and economic growth. It uses survey methods to profile related literature of the energy consumption–economic​ growth nexus. It tests four established hypotheses, feedback, growth, conservation and neutrality. It concentrates on both country as well as multi-country panel based studies. The variables chosen, econometric as well as theoretical models, time periods has contributed to the increased level of disagreement. The results are thoroughly mixed with no agreement, some studies are explicit on the degree to which results are contentious. There is no consensus for both country specific as well as panel based studies. On the whole the growth hypothesis is the most dominant outcome for country based studies. Our findings indicate that this debate is inconclusive with growth hypothesis accounting for 43.8%, feedback 18.5%, conservation 27.2%, and neutrality hypothesis 10.5% for country specific studies. This study gives a footprint of the state of the art and stimulates the level of debate for researchers on energy consumption and economic growth.