Measuring the effect of trade liberalisation on the consumption of non-renewable energy sources in Latin America and the Caribbean countries

Abstract

This article investigates the impact of trade openness on the consumption of fossil fuels for a panel of fourteen LAC countries over the period from 1990 to 2014. To this end, a PARDL model in unrestricted error-correction form is estimated. The results of the model regression point indicate that the impact of economic growth and elasticity of trade openness are statistically significant at the 1% level and contribute to increased consumption of fossil fuels in the LAC countries. However, the impact and elasticity of consumption of renewable energy are statistically significant at 1% and 5% levels and thus contribute to decreasing consumption of fossil fuels.