Is per capita energy use stationary? Panel data evidence for the EMU countries

Abstract

The aim of the study is to examine the stationary properties of per capita energy use in the 19 Eurozone member countries by using yearly data in the 1960-2013 period. First and second generation of panel unit root tests are applied. Empirical findings show mixed results, since the evidence favors the panel stationarity of energy use per capita in all groups of countries for the specification with the constant only; on the contrary, in the specification with constant and trend, the null hypothesis that all series are non-stationary cannot be rejected. Therefore, policymakers should be cautious, paying attention to the energy use series' properties, as different results conduct to opposite policy implications.