Public policy supports and export performance of bioenergy technologies: A dynamic panel approach

This study investigates the effects of public policy supports on the export performance of bioenergy technologies; it uses panel data from 18 countries from the 1992 to 2008 period. Panel unit-root and cointegration tests are applied, taking into account the results of structural-break tests for each time series and testing for the presence in the panel of cross-sectional dependence. Time-series data on public supports and exports are integrated and cointegrated. The results of dynamic ordinary least squares indicate that in the long term, public R&D expenditures have a positive effect on the exports, the contribution of bioenergy to the total energy supply has a negative effect on the exports, and GDP has a positive effect on the exports. The contribution of bioenergy to total energy supply responds to deviations in the previous period from the long-term equilibrium. Additionally, Blundell-Bond system generalized methods of moments estimations are made, to determine dynamic causality in a panel vector error correction mechanism setting. Evidence of a positive strong and short-term relationship from exports to R&D expenditures, and of a positive short-term causality from exports to the contribution of bioenergy to total energy supply, is found. A positive strong bidirectional relationship between GDP and exports is also uncovered. There is a positive strong, bidirectional, and short-term relationship between GDP and the contribution of bioenergy to total energy supply. Finally, some policy implications based on the results of this study are offered.