Energy Consumption-Youth Unemployment Nexus in Europe: Evidence from Panel Cointegration and Panel Causality Analyses

This paper employs a panel data set of 20 European countries and examines the impacts of energy consumption on youth unemployment over the period 1990-2011. We employed panel FMOLS and panel DOLS estimations, panel Granger causality tests based on vector error correction model and panel causality tests of Emirmahmutoglu and Kose (2011) and Dumitreschu and Hurlin (2012). According to the panel FMOLS and DOLS estimators results, there is negative impact of energy consumption on youth unemployment rates. In addition, the causality tests yield unidirectional causality from energy consumption to youth unemployment rates. The outcome of this paper explores the importance of energy policies to decrease youth unemployment rates and, hence, it may suggests policymakers follow relevant policies encouraging energy consumption and new potential energy investments to diminish youth unemployment rates. Keywords: energy consumption; youth unemployment; panel analysis; EU JEL Classifications: C33, E24, Q4

The shale gas production and economic growth in local economies across the US

Recently, several seminal works have been drawing attention to the revolution of shale gas production technology of the USA, theimpact of shale gas on energy sectors, as well as the influences of shale gas on macroeconomic variables of employment,economic growth, etc. Nevertheless, one may claim that two gaps appear in literature. The first gap is the absence of aneconometric study estimating the effect of shale oil/gas on national economies. The more considerable second gap is the absenceof econometric analyses revealing the impulses of shale gas on local economies. Therefore, this paper observes the possiblecausalities between the shale gas and local gross domestic product (GDP) employing quarterly data covering the period 2007–2016 for 12 states in the US. After performing the tests of cross-sectional dependence, heterogeneity, stationarity, andcointegration, the paper conducts the panel Granger causality analyses. The empirical findings depict that (i) there is availableunidirectional relationship from local shale gas production to local GDP in Colorado, Ohio, and West Virginia; (ii) there occurs animpulse from GDP to local shale gas production for Louisiana, North Dakota, and Oklahoma; (iii) a bidirectional causalitycoexists between local shale gas production and GDP in Arkansas, California, and Texas; and (iv) there exists no associationbetween local GDP and local shale gas extraction in Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming.</p

The dynamic impact of renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions: A revisited Environmental Kuznets Curve approach

WOS: 000367758200061This paper considers a revisited Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis with potential impact of renewable energy consumption on environmental quality. To this end, paper aims at investigating the validity of the EKC hypothesis employing the dependent variable of CO2 emissions and regressors of GDP, quadratic GDP and renewable energy consumption. This paper, hence, analyzes this revisited EKC hypothesis to observe if (i) there exists an inverted-U shaped relationship between environmental quality (in terms of CO2 emissions), per capita income and per capita income squared and (ii) there exists a negative causality from renewables to CO2 emissions within EKC model. Paper employs a panel data set of 17 OECD countries over the period 1977-2010 and launches panel FMOLS and panel DOLS estimations. The findings support the EKC hypothesis for the panel and indicate that GDP per capita and GDP per capita squared have the impacts on CO2 emissions positively and negatively, respectively, and that renewable energy consumption yields negative impact on CO2 emissions. Another remark of this paper is that the validity of EKC does not depend on income level of individual countries of panel in which EKC hypothesis holds. Eventually, paper argues that if countries carry out (i) policies, i.e., for fair and easy access to the electricity from renewable sources and (ii) policies to increase renewables supply through i.e. improved renewable energy technologies, they will be able to contribute to combating global warming problem as they increase their GDP's. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Co-movements and causalities between ethanol production and corn prices in the USA: New evidence from wavelet transform analysis

The literature has been increasingly examining the existence of possible compatibility or conflict hypotheses between biofuels and food security in recent years. While current research outputs do not provide a consensus, the new evidence can guide sustainable development policies. In this context, this paper investigates the co-movements between fuel ethanol production and corn prices for the US employing oil production, population, and real exchange rate control variables via the Morlet wavelet analysis from 1990:m1 to 2021:m4. The results of the analysis provide empirical evidence for the dynamics of the relationship between ethanol production and corn prices in the short and long term. However, the striking output of this paper is that increases in corn prices have followed increases in fuel ethanol production in the US markets since 2010. Especially in the long-term (from 2010:m3 to 2019:m12), the increase in ethanol production caused an increase in corn prices. From a sustainable development perspective, this paper points to the existence of a conflict between ethanol production and corn prices in the US over the past decade. © 2022 Elsevier Lt

The impact of urbanization on energy intensity: Panel data evidence considering cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity

WOS: 000407655700023As population grows considerably in the world, the correlation between intensity of population in urban areas and energy intensity becomes an important issue in energy field. This paper aims at examining the effects of urbanization on energy intensity for 10 Asian countries by employing annual data from 1990 to 2014. The Asian countries are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, respectively. To this end, the paper, first, follows cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity tests. Then, the paper conducts unit root and cointegration tests, cointegration analyses and causality analyses. Finally, the paper estimates the short run parameters as well as long-run parameters to capture the possible dynamic relationships among variables. This paper, thus, employs energy intensity as dependent variable and GDP per capita, the square of GDP per capita, urbanization, and ruralization as regressors within the relevant models and explores that there exists a long-run relationship of energy intensity with GDP per capita, the square of GDP per capita, urbanization, and ruralization in panel data. The paper, later, observes additional explanatory variables of export, renewable energy consumption and nonrenewable energy consumption, and, concludes that (i) the urbanization variable has significant influences on energy intensity in the short-run and long-run, (ii) despite the some differences in cross-sectional estimations, the Asian panel data, overall; yield negative impact of urbanization on energy intensity. The latter output indicates that the urbanization path increases the energy productivity in Asian panel models. Within this scope, the paper presents some policy proposals related to the reduction of energy intensity in Asia. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Energy Consumption-Youth Unemployment Nexus in Europe: Evidence from Panel Cointegration and Panel Causality Analyses

This paper employs a panel data set of 20 European countries and examines the impacts of energy consumption on youth unemployment over the period 1990-2011. We employed panel FMOLS and panel DOLS estimations, panel Granger causality tests based on vector error correction model and panel causality tests of Emirmahmutoglu and Kose (2011) and Dumitreschu and Hurlin (2012). According to the panel FMOLS and DOLS estimators results, there is negative impact of energy consumption on youth unemployment rates. In addition, the causality tests yield unidirectional causality from energy consumption to youth unemployment rates. The outcome of this paper explores the importance of energy policies to decrease youth unemployment rates and, hence, it may suggests policymakers follow relevant policies encouraging energy consumption and new potential energy investments to diminish youth unemployment rates. Keywords: energy consumption; youth unemployment; panel analysis; EU JEL Classifications: C33, E24, Q4

Estimation of the co-movements between biofuel production and food prices: A wavelet-based analysis

Recently, the significance of biofuel production on food prices has become an important topic of&nbsp; discussion&nbsp; within&nbsp; the&nbsp; framework&nbsp; of&nbsp; sustainable&nbsp; development.&nbsp; Based&nbsp; on&nbsp; the&nbsp; relevant discussions, this work aims at observing the influence of biofuel production on food prices in the&nbsp; US&nbsp; for&nbsp; the&nbsp; monthly&nbsp; period&nbsp; 1981-2018&nbsp; by&nbsp; considering&nbsp; all&nbsp; possible&nbsp; structural&nbsp; changes between&nbsp; the&nbsp; co-movements&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; variables.&nbsp; In&nbsp; the&nbsp; analyses,&nbsp; oil&nbsp; prices&nbsp; and&nbsp; population variables are also employed as control variables. To this end, we employ continuous wavelet model&nbsp; &nbsp;estimations&nbsp; &nbsp;for&nbsp; &nbsp;the&nbsp; &nbsp;whole&nbsp; &nbsp;sample&nbsp; &nbsp;period&nbsp; &nbsp;and&nbsp; &nbsp;sub-sample&nbsp; &nbsp;periods&nbsp; &nbsp;at&nbsp; &nbsp;different frequencies. All computations have considered the potential changes in co-movements of the variables&nbsp; at&nbsp; different&nbsp; sub-sample&nbsp; periods&nbsp; corresponding&nbsp; to&nbsp; high&nbsp; and&nbsp; low&nbsp; frequencies&nbsp; of observed&nbsp; time&nbsp; series&nbsp; data.&nbsp; Estimation&nbsp; results&nbsp; show that&nbsp; there&nbsp; exist&nbsp; significant&nbsp; relationships between&nbsp; biofuel&nbsp; production&nbsp; and&nbsp; food&nbsp; prices&nbsp; in&nbsp; the&nbsp; short-term&nbsp; and&nbsp; long-term&nbsp; cycles.&nbsp; The outcomes&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; research&nbsp; hence&nbsp; may&nbsp; provide&nbsp; some&nbsp; insights&nbsp; into&nbsp; the&nbsp; design&nbsp; of&nbsp; sustainable energy and food policies in the United States.</p

Can biomass energy be an efficient policy tool for sustainable development?

WOS: 000394920600065This paper first reviews the potential causality from biomass energy to CO2 emissions and economic development within relevant literature. Later, the paper examines statistically the impacts of biomass energy consumption on CO2 emissions and GDP in the US. To this end, paper observes environmental and economic implications of biomass fuel usage throughout energy literature and launches asymmetric causality test to confirm/disconfirm the literature output. The findings of the tests indicate that biomass energy consumption per capita mitigates CO2 emissions per capita and increases GDP per capita. Eventually, upon its output, this research asserts that biomass energy consumption can be an efficient policy tool for environmentally sustainable development in the US, and, that, hence, biomass production technologies and biomass consumption need to be promoted in other countries as well as in the US. On the other hand, analyses underline the fact that policy makers should consider as well some potential constraints of biomass energy usage such as land use constraints and carbon leakage from biomass production. Therefore, although this paper explores the remedial impact of biomass on environment and growth, one may suggest also that further possible works consider the effects of biomass sources in detail to minimize the some worsening influence of biomass usage on climate change

Is ethanol production responsible for the increase in corn prices?

This paper aims to investigate the effects of the production of ethanol, a renewable biofuel, oil prices, population, and exchange rate on corn prices in the US (1985:m1-2020:m7) using a nonlinear smooth transition model. According to the findings, (i) ethanol production (β1 = 0.072, p < 0.01) has an increasing effect on corn prices. (ii) Oil prices (β2 = 0.064, p < 0.05) and population (β3 = 0.851, p < 0.01) put a pressure on corn prices. (iii) The increase in the real exchange rate (β4 = −2.142, p < 0.01) has a decreasing effect on corn prices. The estimation results provide several critical policy implications for ethanol-food competition within the framework of sustainable development policies. First, ethanol production puts pressure on corn prices. Second, policy-oriented research on the biofuel-food competition can provide guidance to ensure sustainability. Finally, in the transformation process of the ethanol industry, technological innovations (use of second or third-generation biofuels) can moderate the food-fuel nexus. © 2022 Elsevier Lt

How did the US economy react to shale gas production revolution? An advanced time series approach

WOS: 000389089000080This paper aims at examining the impacts of shale gas revolution on industrial production in the US. To this end, this paper, first, throughout literature review, exposes the features of shale gas revolution in the US in terms of energy technology and energy markets. However, the potential influences of shale gas extraction on the US economy are not explicit in the existing literature. Thus, considering mainly the output of shale gas revolution on the US economy in this research, later, the paper conducts econometric models to reveal if there exists significant effect(s) of shale gas revolution on the US economy. Therefore, the paper employs unit root tests and cointegration tests by following relevant US monthly data from January 2008 to December 2013. Then, this paper observes long run impact of shale gas production on industrial production in the US through dynamic ordinary least squares estimation with dummy structural breaks and conducts Granger causality test based on vector error correction model. The dynamic ordinary least squares estimator explores that shale gas production has a positive effect on industrial production. Besides, the Granger causality test presents that shale gas production Granger causes industrial production in the long run. Based on the findings of the long run estimations, the paper yields that industrial production is positively related to shale gas production. Eventually, upon its findings, this paper asserts that (i) the shale gas revolution in the US has considerable positive effects on the US economy within the scope of the validity of the growth hypothesis, (ii) new technologies might be developed to mitigate the possible negative environmental effects of shale gas production, (iii) the countries having shale gas reserves, as in US, may follow energy policies to utilize their shale reserves more in the future to meet their energy demand and to increase their economic welfare. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved