Energies (Jan 2021)

Exploring the Relationship between Renewable Energy Sources and Economic Growth. The Case of SAARC Countries

  • Qiucheng Li,
  • Jacob Cherian,
  • Malik Shahzad Shabbir,
  • Muhammad Safdar Sial,
  • Jing Li,
  • Ioana Mester,
  • Alina Badulescu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/en14030520
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 3
p. 520

Abstract

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The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between renewable energy sources and economic growth of the South Asian Association for regional cooperation (SAARC) countries. This study uses three main renewable energy sources, namely geothermal, hydro, and wind.This study collects data set from SAARC countries from 1995 to 2018 and applies a fixed effect test and panel vector error correction model (PVECM) for data analysis. The overall results show that all three renewable energy sources have a positive significant impact on economic development among SAARC countries’ economies. Moreover, hydropower renewable energy has more effects and influences on economic growth as compared to the other two individual sources of renewable energy.

Keywords