Survey of the international evidence on the causal relationship between energy consumption and growth

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to survey the empirical literature on the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth.Design/methodology/approachThe four major hypotheses (growth, conservation, neutrality, and feedback) are briefly outlined with respect to the energy consumption‐growth nexus and corresponding policy implications of each. The survey focuses on country coverage, variables selected and model specification, econometric approaches, various methodological issues, and empirical results.FindingsThough there is no clear consensus on the results for a specific country or groups of countries, directions for future research are discussed.Research limitations/implicationsThe research surveyed may be dated by the time of publication given the ongoing research in this area.Originality/valueThis paper serves as a reference for researchers on the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth.