Electricity consumption and economic development: Are countries converging to a common trend? ¬リニ

a r t i c l e i n f o This paper studies the dynamic behavior of electricity consumption with special emphasis on their convergence patterns. Individual electricity indicators are modeled by allowing for apparent heterogeneous transitions. Log t convergence test results indicate that all 109 countries converge to a common stochastic trend for electricity intensity while per capita electricity consumption is better explained by a multiple-component model. In the case of 24 advanced economies, there is a strong tendency towards a common component for both indicators. The application of clustering algorithm confirms the presence of club convergence for per capita electricity consumption. In terms of clustering pattern, per capita electricity consumption appears to be remarkably similar to per capita income, widely used measure of economic development. The importance of understanding both time-series and cross-sectional properties of energy-related measures illuminating the links between energy uses and human activity has been underscored by researchers as well as policymakers. This paper studies convergence in some important electricity-related measures, electricity intensity and per capita electricity consumption, using a variety of panel data. With special emphasis on heterogeneous transitional dynamics of the indicators , we take the convergence analysis in a different avenue than previous attempts in the literature. This is motivated by the observation that, even over several decades, there still exist substantial differences in electric power usage across countries. Since, in the presence of divergence , a traditional statistical model may not be felicitous to account for some salient features of the data, this paper utilizes an alternative approach, multiple-component model, to better understand their dynamic behavior. Improving energy efficiency has become one of top priorities in most countries and, as a consequence, there has been significant progress in enhancing efficient use of energy resources. That is, primary energy use has been increasing more slowly than aggregate economic activity. Such a sharp reduction in energy intensity can be attributed to higher energy prices, technological progress, and government energy regulations. In particular, as shifting availabilities of energy resources and development of technologies change a country's energy structure, a number of studies, e. suggest that the shifts to electricity, which is considered to be one of dominant components of secondary energy, have contributed to the marked improvement in energy efficiency. In fact, the growth of electricity consumption has far outpaced primary energy consumption and world electricity intensity appears to exhibit the long-run upward …