The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth for Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa and Turkey (BRICS-T) countries. In this context, this study investigates energy consumption and real output in BRICS-T countries through panel cointegration.
The data include energy consumption and real output for BRICS-T countries and period of 1990–2014. The variables are transformed into natural logarithm. To analyze these data, this study employed Pedroni cointegration test, the second-generation panel cointegration test, Westerlund and Edgerton (2008) test and FMOLS test.
Results indicate that there is a bi-directional causality relationship between energy consumption and economic growth for BRICS-T countries. An increase in GDP leads to an increase in energy consumption and an increase in energy consumption leads to an increase in GDP.
This study used data that include the period of 1990–2014 for BRICS-T countries. So, further studies can use different periods of data or different countries.
This study provides important evidence that countries with strong growth performance need to follow bi-directional energy policies to increase both energy investments and ensure energy savings.
