The impact of financial development on energy consumption in emerging economies

Financial development is often cited as a very important driver of economic growth in emerging economies and it is thus likely that financial development affects energy demand. This study uses generalized method of moments estimation techniques to examine the impact of financial development on energy consumption in a sample of emerging countries. Several different measures of financial development are examined. Using a panel data set on 22 emerging countries covering the period 1990–2006, the empirical results show a positive and statistically significant relationship between financial development and energy consumption when financial development is measured using stock market variables like stock market capitalization to GDP, stock market value traded to GDP, and stock market turnover. The implications of these results for energy policy are discussed.