Renewable energy consumption, International trade, oil price and economic growth inter-linkages: The case of Tunisia

This paper contributes to the small but growing literature on the linkages between renewable energy consumption, international trade, oil price and economic growth. It aims to investigate such dynamic relationships using the bounds testing approach to cointegration and the ARDL methodology for Tunisia over the period 1980-2011. The main empirical findings reveal the presence of a bidirectional relationship between renewable energy consumption and international trade in the short-run. Indeed, an increase in oil price may imply an increase of renewable energy consumption. Furthermore, a unidirectional relationship between renewable energy and oil price is proven in the short-run.