Özet:

Understanding the impact of energy consumption on economic growth is an important consideration in the formulation of both energy and environmental policies. Motivated by this development, this paper empirically re-examines the direction of causality and the sign (in the panel sense) between energy consumption (EC) and the gross-domestic product (GDP) for seventeen selected Asian countries. Results reveal long-run stable equilibriums in these countries, while the EC brings about a positive impact on GDP. Causality runs from EC to GDP in the short-run, while the long-run causal linkage exists from GDP to EC. This indicates that energy is a force for economic growth in the short-run, but in the long-run, the EC is fundamentally driven by economic growth. Efficient coordination and cooperation towards the implementation of energy conservation policies to support sustainable economic development should be in the regional agenda.

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