Two versions of the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) in the energy-growth nexus for selected Asian countries

This is an empirical study on the energy-growth nexus for selected Asian countries which uses the Westerlund methodology for cointegration and Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality procedure. Besides energy consumption (separated as renewable and non-renewable), the following variables are also used: trade, rents, financial development and inflation. The study first calculates two versions of the ISEW for selected Asian countries. The Basic Index for Sustainable Economic Welfare (BISEW) contains strictly economy related variables and the Solid Index for Sustainable Economic Welfare (SISEW) which additionally contains an environmental component. Then we re-estimate the energy-growth nexus replacing the GDP with each of the two estimated types of the ISEW. We also estimate the conventional nexus but find no different implications between the GDP growth and the growth in sustainable economic welfare when energy conservation measures apply. Evidence of the feedback hypotheses in the three frameworks shows that energy conservation measures will restrain growth of both types, conventional and sustainable and thus policy makers in Asian countries should refrain from that.