Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

9-2015

Abstract

The aim of this article is to empirically identify convergence clubs in energy intensity among 109 countries from 1971 to 2010 by using a recently developed methodology, i.e., a new regression-based convergence test, introduced by Phillips and Sul (2007). This log t test allows us to endogenously identify the groups of countries that converge to different equilibriums and those that do not converge to any convergence clubs. We mainly find that, first, world countries do not seem to converge at the same steady-state level; instead, they form four separate clubs converging to their own steady-state paths and few countries are found to converge to no group at all. In addition, although the world as a whole shows the evidence of convergence, economic and geographic groups seem to converge at different speeds. Last, estimates from an ordered-logit model reveal that initial energy intensity level and openness are mainly responsible for the formation of the world convergence clubs, whereas industry share and R&D share are not.

Keywords

energy intensity, club convergence, log t regression test, nonlinear time-varying factor model

Discipline

Economics | Energy Policy

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

Publication

Applied Economics Letters

Volume

22

Issue

14

First Page

1158

Last Page

1169

ISSN

1350-4851

Identifier

10.1080/13504851.2015.1013603

Publisher

Taylor & Francis (Routledge): SSH Titles

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2015.1013603

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