Empirical Analysis of the Relationship Between Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions and Economic Growth in Tunisia

Abstract

This paper examines the long run and causal relationship issues between economic growth, energy consumption and carbon emissions by using vector error correction model for the case of Tunisia within 1970-2010. Empirical results using time series data suggest an evidence of a long-run relationship between the variables at 5% significance level in Tunisia. A Granger causality analysis is conducted amongst the variables. The overall results indicate bidirectional causality between energy consumption and CO2 emissions and a unidirectional causality running from pollutant emissions to economic growth. But there is no direct relation between energy consumption and economic growth. Thus, our results reveal that in short term energy conservation policies, such as rationing energy consumption have no effect on the real output growth of Tunisia.