Modeling the causal linkages between nuclear energy, renewable energy and economic growth in developed and developing countries

This article investigates the causal relationship between two types of energy variables and economic growth using dynamic simultaneous-equation panel data models for 17 developed and developing countries. Our results indicate that there is a unidirectional causality running from nuclear consumption to economic growth in Belgium and Spain, while a unidirectional causality, running from economic growth to nuclear consumption is supported in Bulgaria, Canada, Netherlands, and Sweden. A bidirectional relationship appears in Argentina, Brazil, France, Pakistan, and the USA, while no causality exists in Finland, Hungary, India, Japan, Switzerland, and the U.K. Second, the results for the second nexus among renewable energy and economic growth show that there is a unidirectional causality running from renewable consumption to economic growth in Hungary, India, Japan, Netherlands, and Sweden, while there exist a unidirectional running from economic growth to renewable consumption in Argentina, Spain, and Switzerland. A bidirectional relationship is supported in Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Pakistan, and the USA, while no causality exists in Brazil, Finland; and Switzerland. Third, we find the existence of a bidirectional causality between nuclear consumption and economic; and a unidirectional causality running from economic growth to renewable energy consumption for the global panel. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.