Modern Economy, 2017, 8, 946-958
http://www.scirp.org/journal/me
ISSN Online: 2152-7261
ISSN Print: 2152-7245
DOI: 10.4236/me.2017.87066 July 26, 2017
Convergence of Energy Intensity in OECD
Countries
Cem Canel
1
, Selahattin Guris
2
, Burak Guris
2
, Begüm Öktem
3
, Recep Oktem
3
1
Department of Analytics, Information Systems and Supply Chain, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, USA
2
Department of Econometrics, Faculty of Economics, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey
3
Department of Accounting and Tax Implications, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey
Abstract
This paper investigates whether there is energy intensity convergence in the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries
or not by using annual data from the 1980-2011 period. OECD countries are
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Ger-
many, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Luxembourg,
Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Swit-
zerland, Turkey, UK, and USA. Energy intensity is measured by the ratio of
total energy consumption to total output. Energy intensity measures the
energy consumption of an economy and its overall energy efficiency. We used
linear and nonlinear unit root tests from the recent literature to accomplish
this goal. An analysis of the test results shows that there is no convergence in
Chile, Finland, Greece, Ireland, South Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Nether-
lands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. These
countries should start implementing changes to their energy policies to
achieve effective energy use.
Keywords
Energy Intensity, Nonlinear Unit Root Tests
1. Introduction
Energy intensity is measured by the ratio of total energy consumption to total
output, measured as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It measures the energy
consumption of an economy and its overall energy efficiency. High energy
intensities indicate a high price or cost of converting energy into GDP. Low
energy intensity indicates a lower price or cost of converting energy into GDP.
This ratio is a measurement used in the comparison of the countries in this
How to cite this paper: Canel, C., Guris,
S., Guris, B., Öktem, B. and Oktem, R.
(2017) Convergence of Energy Intensity in
OECD Countries. Modern Economy, 8,
946-958.
https://doi.org/10.4236/me.2017.87066
Received: June 17, 2017
Accepted: July 23, 2017
Published: July 26, 2017
Copyright © 2017 by authors and
Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY 4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Open Access