Nuclear energy consumption, commercial energy consumption and economic growth in South Asia: Bootstrap panel causality test

The objective of the study is to investigate the causal relationship among nuclear energy consumption, commercial energy consumption (i.e., oil consumption, gas consumption, electricity consumption and coal consumption) and economic growth in South Asian countries; namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; over the period of 1975 to 2010. Data is analyzed by bootstrap panel Granger causality method. The results reveal that nuclear energy consumption Granger causes economic growth in Nepal and Pakistan; while, commercial energy consumption i.e., oil consumption Granger causes economic growth in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Srilanka; gas consumption Granger causes economic growth in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Maldives; electricity consumption Granger causes economic growth in India and Srilanka, finally, coal consumption Granger causes economic growth in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Srilanka. On the other side, economic growth Granger causes nuclear energy consumption in Pakistan; economic growth Granger causes oil consumption in Bhutan, Maldives and Srilanka; economic growth Granger causes gas consumption in Nepal, Srilanka and Pakistan; finally, economic growth Granger causes electricity consumption. Economic growth Granger causes coal consumption in all South Asian countries. The findings show that the nature of causality between nuclear energy consumption & economic growth; and commercial energy consumption & economic growth is in favor of the neutrality hypothesis in most of the countries.