Education, Financial Development, and Primary Energy Consumption: An Empirical Analysis for BRICS Economies

Abstract

Energy is life blood of all economies and an indispensable prerequisite for all economic activities and consequently factors influencing the energy consumption are of vital importance. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of education together with financial development on energy consumption in sample of BRICS economies over the 1990–2019 period by means of second-generation cointegration and causality analyses thanks to the small number of empirical studies. The causality analysis unveils a one-way causal effect from education to primary energy consumption, but an insignificant causality between financial development and primary energy consumption. The cointegration analysis uncovers a strong positive effect of education at panel level and in all BRICS economies in the long-term, but financial sector development has a significant positive influence on primary energy use only in South Africa in the long-term. The findings of the study reveal that education considerably increases the primary energy use in the BRICS economies through economic growth channel, but financial sector development has not been a significant determinant of primary energy use yet. However, the BRICS economies should attach more importance to green technology and energy focused growth for sustainable growth and development.