Review of energy-growth nexus: A panel analysis for ten Eurasian oil exporting countries

The paper examines the energy-growth nexus in ten oil-exporting developing Eurasian countries: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE over the period 1997–2014. Lack of enough energy-growth nexus studies on the oil exporters of the Middle East and Commonwealth of Independent States coupled with a number of issues, which have not been addressed by prior studies motivate us to conduct this review. Policymakers should take into consideration that any policy measures aimed at conserving the Primary Energy Consumption can undermine economic growth, as we find that the growth hypothesis dominates in the Primary Energy Consumption-growth nexus. Conversely, validity of the neutrality hypothesis in the Residential Electricity Consumption-growth nexus, another finding of this study, implies that policymakers can pursue conservation policy by reconsidering the residential electricity subsidies in the selected countries. The study contributes to the energy-growth literature by addressing some issues and filling the gap for the Eurasian oil exporting countries, especially those in the Middle East and Commonwealth of Independent States.