Modeling natural gas consumption, capital formation, globalization, CO2 emissions and economic growth nexus in Malaysia: Fresh evidence from combined cointegration and causality analysis

The discovery of natural gas in the 20th century has increased aggregate energy consumption while spurring economic development. However, very little attention has been given in the energy economics literature, especially in Malaysia. As such, this paper primarily revisited the natural gas - economic growth nexus hypothesis in the case of Malaysia. The study was conducted with data from 1980 to 2014 in a multivariate framework with the inclusion of capital formation, globalization, and CO2 emissions to avoid omitted variable bias. We investigated the stationarity properties with a method that accommodates a single structural break. Subsequently, the novel combined co-integration test in conjunction with several techniques were used to assess the magnitude of the long-run equilibrium relationship. The empirical findings trace the long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables over the sampled period. The Granger causality test analysis confirmed the growth-energy driven hypothesis in Malaysia. The findings call for the adoption of cleaner and environmentally friendly energy sources in the Malaysian energy mix. We highlight the need for pragmatic strides from both private and public energy sector stakeholders to prioritize clean and accessible energy in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.