Abstract:

This study investigates the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth, using data from 13 Central and East European countries for the period 1996-2011. For this purpose, long-term elasticities are estimated by using Quantile Regression Analysis (QRA) approach. Empirical findings suggest that long term relationship shifts from relative-coupling to absolute-decoupling with increasing GDP levels (reported elasticities for respective quantiles are 0.455, 0.471, 0.360, 0.107, 0.091) Consequently, this paper suggests that transition economies should pay attention to energy consumption in order to ensure a sustainable economic growth.

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