THE ASYMMETRIC EFFECTS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSUMPTION ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN TURKEY

Economic growth and development is the main aim of all countries worldwide. Although an important part of the increasing demand is met by primary energy sources, the production and the consumption of renewable energy sources have risen in recent years. The objective of this study is to empirically analyze the asymmetric effects of renewable energy consumption on economic growth. In the analysis conducted using Turkey's 1965-2017 period data, the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model was used. In addition to the classical unit root tests such as ADF, PP, Ng-P and KPSS, structural break unit root test, proposed by Zivot and Anders was used in order to test stationary. According to the results of unit root tests, the variables were stationary in the first degree, and an asymmetrical relationship between the two variables was determined in the longrun. Moreover, according the findins, there is a direct correlation between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. However, positive and negative shocks in renewable energy consumption have asymmetric effects on growth. In the study, it has found that the impact of positive shocks in renewable energy consumption was smaller than the effect of negative shocks. The one percent increase in renewable energy consumption increases economic growth by approximately 0.4 percent, while the one percent fall decreases growth by 0.7 percent.