Abstract
The debate on the nexus between energy consumption and economic growth continues unabated with divergent views on the direction of the relationship. This is partly due to the sources and patterns of energy consumption across different countries, differential characteristics of the economies, and differences in the methodologies employed. Again, the mixed and inconclusive results from prior cointegration tests might have arisen from the assumption of symmetry when, in actuality, the response of economic growth to energy consumption may be asymmetric. Furthermore, for studies that employed the asymmetric cointegration analysis, the data generating process might account for the conflicting evidence, especially for annual series. Therefore, this paper re-evaluates the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Nigeria over the period 1999Q1–2016Q4 using alternative model specifications. Specifically, the study used a nonlinear (or asymmetric) ARDL model and an ARDL-ECM specification which presumes a linear relationship rather than a nonlinear one. Overall, we find that the role of energy consumption as a driver of growth remained negligible throughout, suggesting that a lot still needs to be done to ensure that the expected role of energy begins to manifest in the Nigerian economy. The Granger causality tests revealed a unidirectional causality running from energy consumption to economic growth, indicating that Nigeria can attain high levels of sustainable growth with improved and stable energy supply. Thus, the study concludes that these findings constitute a wake-up call on governments and policymakers in Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African economies that share structural similarities with it that there is an urgent need to evolve and implement policies that will address the energy challenges of these economies.Keywords: Energy Consumption; Economic Growth; Nonlinear ARDL; Error Correction Model; Granger CausalityJEL Classifications: Q41, O47, C51, C22, C32DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.8902
Highlights
The energy-growth nexus is an important consideration in the development dynamics of countries and fundamental to the quality of lives in the society
The paper adopts the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model recently advanced by Shin et al (2013), which allows for the regressors to be decomposed into positive and negative partial sum processes
This study investigated the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Nigeria from 1999Q1 to 2016Q4 based on alternative specifications
Summary
The energy-growth nexus is an important consideration in the development dynamics of countries and fundamental to the quality of lives in the society. This is because the value-added of energy to any economy, either as a final good (lighting, cooking, heating, air-conditioning, etc.) or as an input into the production of other goods and services, is fundamental to the quality of lives in a country. Be ascribed as a disparity index between developed and undeveloped economies. This is because most undeveloped economies are bedevilled by lack of energy, which stunts developments in education and health and growth of enterprises and national development.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
