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Examining the linkage between human capital and energy consumption: cross‐country evidence
Author(s) -
Akram Vaseem,
Jangam Bhushan Praveen,
Rath Badri Narayan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
opec energy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1753-0237
pISSN - 1753-0229
DOI - 10.1111/opec.12167
Subject(s) - human capital , economics , linkage (software) , latin americans , consumption (sociology) , energy consumption , empirical evidence , emerging markets , developing country , empirical research , capital (architecture) , development economics , macroeconomics , economic growth , geography , ecology , social science , biochemistry , philosophy , archaeology , epistemology , sociology , biology , gene , chemistry , linguistics
Though voluminous empirical studies examine the linkage between energy consumption (EC) and economic growth, the impact of human capital on EC is scarce. This paper investigates this research issue by using annual data of 73 countries over the period 1990–2014. Furthermore, we classify 73 countries based on income (developed, developing and emerging economies) and regions (Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America). The empirical results indicate that human capital negatively affects EC. This implies that EC can be lowered by improving human capital, which ultimately can help in energy conservation and environmental protection. Policies promoting substitutability between energy inputs and human capital, and structural policies like improving economic efficiency and improving human capital through educational levels can help economies in achieving greater sustainable growth with low EC.