Empirical analysis into the nexus between energy consumption, economic growth, and natural resources in D-8 bloc: evidence from panel causality analysis

THe importance of the impact of natural resources on economic growth is an important issue with a long history in the energy and environment literature. It is seen that the studies conducted in this field are generally shaped by the "resource curse hypothesis," a hypothesis that highlights the trade-off between economic growth and resource abundance in the growth literature. However, the extant literature have presented inconclusive results. This study aims to examine the direction of causality between capital, energy use, energy imports, exchange rate, natural resources, and per capita income in countries that are rich in natural resources and consist of developing countries (D-8). In this context, first of all, the existence of CD test was determined, and then the stationarity of the variables was determined with the CADF unit root test. Then, whether the slope coefficients of the variables were homogeneous or not, it was decided that they were heterogeneous. Finally, the direction of causality between the variables was examined with the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test applied to heterogeneous panels. The empirical analysis results show a unidirectional causal relationship from capital to GDP per capita and from GDP per capita to energy use. In addition, while a two-way causality relationship was determined between the exchange rate and GDP per capita, no causal relationship was found between energy imports, natural resources, and per capita income. These results have macroeconomic implications and spillover effects on the energy mix of D-8 economies. In addition, no causal relationship was found between natural resources and GDP per capita in this country group and within the scope of the analysis period. Policy recommendations are highlighted in the conclusion.