Heterogeneous effect of eco-innovation and human capital on renewable & non-renewable energy consumption: Disaggregate analysis for G-7 countries. (15th October 2020) - Khan, Zeeshan
Abstract: Researchers and academia have not studied the heterogeneous effect of eco-innovation and human capital on the varying sources of energy. Where this study is the first that attempts to investigate the heterogeneous effect of eco-innovation and human capital along with energy price, financial development, research & development expenditure on the total energy consumption (TEC), non-renewable energy consumption (NREC) and renewable energy consumption (REC) by employing Westerlund and Edgerton's panel cointegration and Augmented Mean Group (AMG) for finding the short and long-run estimates by using data of G-7 countries from 1995 to 2017. This study also uses different macroeconomic variables to conduct sensitivity analysis and to examine their impact on TEC, NREC, and REC. The empirical findings confirm a negative association of human capital, eco-innovation, energy price, and research & development expenditures with TEC and NREC. Whereas financial development has found to be positively associated with TEC and NREC. Moreover, human capital, eco-innovation, energy price, and research & development expenditures enhance REC, while financial development reduces REC. Based on the findings of this study, we recommend investment in human capital development and the formulation of regulation & policies in the financial sector for encouraging the use of eco-innovation. Highlights: The study examines heterogeneous effect of eco-innovation and human capital on non-renewable, renewable, and total energy consumption. The study examines the sensitivity of related macroeconomic variables on varying sources of energy consumption. The study employs Westerlund and Edgerton's panel cointegration and augmented mean group for short- and long-run estimation results. The study finds a negative association of human capital and eco-innovation on both non-renewable and total energy consumption.