Analysis of the Relationship between Electricity Consumption and Economic Growth in OPEC Member Countries: Bootstrap Panel Causality Test Approach

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth in 13 OPEC member countries for the period 1980 to 2018. For this purpose we use the bootstrap panel causality test proposed by Konya (2006). This test can be useful in assessing the degree of dependence on electricity among OPEC members.  It is noted that when a countrychr('39')s economy is dependent on electricity, environmental policies to save energy can negatively affect economic growth. Therefore, understanding the causal relationship between electricity use and economic growth can have important policy implications.The results of the Bootstrap causality test in this study show that the feedback hypothesis is confirmed for Iran, Ecuador, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Qatar and Kuwait. There is also evidence of the conservation hypothesis in Iraq, Algeria, Libya and Venezuela. In Angola and Congo, however, there is no link between electricity consumption and economic growth, and the neutral hypothesis is valid in these countries. Thus, in most OPEC countries, environmental policies that limit the growth of electricity consumption may have a negative impact on economic growth. Therefore, it is necessary for these countries to increase electricity production from renewable sources.