Estimation and Analysis of Energy Price Elasticities of Iranian provinces: The Augmented Mean Group Estimator Approach

In the literature on energy economics, estimating and analyzing price elasticities of energy demand is one of the important issues in examining the effectiveness of pricing modalities for energy conservatin and environmental policy follow-up. In this regard, low price elasticities of energy demand will increase the need for non-price policies to change consumer behavior and stimulate energy savings. This study aims to estimate and analyze the price elasticities of energy demand with an emphasis on regional (provincial) diversity. For this purpose, price elasticities of energy demand in Iran's provinces during the period of 2001-2016 were estimated using Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimator with heterogeneous slope coefficients. According to the results, the absolute value of the price elasticity of energy demand among the provinces is less than unit (0. 92) , and by the provinces separately, it lies between 0. 37 and 1. 32, as well as the least and greatest values of the price elasticity impute to provinces Qom and Bushehr, respectively. In general, 12 provinces have a price elasticity of energy demand higher than unit and 16 provinces have less than one, among which those of Qom, Hamedan, Qazvin, Tehran and Gilan have the priority of implementing for non-price policies, respectively. Furthermore, results revealed that the price elasticities of energy demand among provinces have positive spatial autocorrelation. The most important policy and research recommendations of this study are discussed for policy makers and researchers.