A meta-analysis investigation of the direction of the energy-GDP causal relationship: implications for the growth-degrowth dialogue

•Reviews the energy-GDP causality dialogue through a meta-analysis approach.•Rough set data analysis and multinomial logistic regression methods are applied.•158 studies included in the meta-analysis covering the literature between 1978 and 2011.•Meta-analysis does not support the existence of a fundamental causality direction.

The complex relation between energy use and the economic process has long attracted attention. Issues such as the scarcity of energy resources, energy theory of value, degrowth and a-growth approaches are closely related to the relationship between energy and development. The present study traces the implications of the Energy-GDP causality dialogue for the context of the growth-degrowth debate, where the energy-development link plays a decisive role. In that context, the present research investigates the possible existence of a fundamental “macro” direction of causality between energy use and economic growth that is not influenced by study-specific characteristics and events. Towards this objective, we perform a meta-analysis that takes into account 158 studies on causality between energy and GDP, covering the period 1978–2011. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that meta-analysis has been applied to investigate the direction of the energy and GDP causal relationship. The meta-analysis results neither support the existence of a fundamental “macro” direction, nor the so-called “neutrality hypothesis (E ≠ GDP)” in the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth.