Ofori, Isaac K. and Adams, Samuel and Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y. (2024): Energy Consumption, Democracy, and Income Inequality in Africa. Forthcoming in: Empirical Economics , Vol. 4, No. 68
![]() |
PDF
MPRA_paper_124134.pdf Download (1MB) |
Abstract
This study employs macro-level data from 33 African countries to examine the impact of energy consumption (disaggregated into renewable and non-renewable sources) on income inequality. It further investigates the moderating role of five distinct democracy typologies – liberal, electoral, deliberative, participatory, and egalitarian – within the energy-inequality nexus. Employing the dynamic GMM estimator, the analysis accounts for the persistence of income inequality and mitigates endogeneity concerns. The findings reveal that energy consumption plays a significant role in reducing income inequality across Africa. The interactive analysis also demonstrates that the income-equalising effect of non-renewable energy is particularly pronounced. Moreover, while all democracy typologies amplify the inequality-reducing effect of non-renewable energy, only participatory and egalitarian democracies enhance the impact of renewable energy. These results underscore the nuanced and asymmetric influence of energy types on income distribution in Africa, with non-renewable energy exhibiting more substantial direct and conditional effects. The study concludes by outlining key policy implications to foster equitable growth.
Item Type: | MPRA Paper |
---|---|
Original Title: | Energy Consumption, Democracy, and Income Inequality in Africa |
Language: | English |
Keywords: | Africa; Democracy; Energy consumption; Renewable energy consumption; Non-renewable energy consumption; Income inequality. |
Subjects: | D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement H - Public Economics > H1 - Structure and Scope of Government > H11 - Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O43 - Institutions and Growth O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O55 - Africa Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q0 - General > Q01 - Sustainable Development Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q4 - Energy > Q43 - Energy and the Macroeconomy |
Item ID: | 124134 |
Depositing User: | Dr Isaac K Ofori |
Date Deposited: | 27 Mar 2025 14:24 |
Last Modified: | 27 Mar 2025 14:24 |
References: | Acemoglu, D., Naidu, S., Restrepo, P., & Robinson, J. A. (2015). Democracy, redistribution, and inequality. In Handbook of Income Distribution (Vol. 2, pp. 1885-1966). Elsevier. Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2.012). Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. Crown. New York, NY. Adams, S., & Akobeng, E. (2021). ICT, governance and inequality in Africa. Telecommunications Policy, 45(10), 102198. Adams, S., & Klobodu, E. K. M. (2016). Financial development, control of corruption and income inequality. International Review of Applied Economics, 30(6), 790-808. Adegboye, A., Adegboye, K., Uwuigbe, U., Ojeka, S., & Fasanu, E. (2023). Taxation, democracy, and inequality in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Relevant linkages for sustainable development goals. Politics & Policy, 51(4), 696-722. Adeleye, B. N. (2024). Income inequality, human capital and institutional quality in sub-Saharan Africa. Social Indicators Research, 171(1), 133-157. African Development Bank (AfDB). (2023). African Economic Outlook 2023: Mobilizing Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa. Akobeng, E. (2016). Out of inequality and poverty: Evidence for the effectiveness of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 60, 207-223. Al-Majali, A. A. (2023). The Effect of Democracy and Income Inequality (Gini Index). Jordanian Journal of Law & Political Science, 15(4). Amendola, A., Easaw, J., & Savoia, A. (2013). Inequality in developing economies: the role of institutional development. Public Choice, 155, 43-60. Apergis, N. (2015). Does renewable production affect income inequality? Evidence from an international panel of countries. Applied Economics Letters, 22(11), 865-868. Apergis, N., & Payne, J. E. (2014). Renewable energy, output, CO2 emissions, and fossil fuel prices in Central America: Evidence from a nonlinear panel smooth transition vector error correction model. Energy Economics, 42, 226-232. Apergis, N., & Payne, J. E. (2009). Energy consumption and economic growth in Central America: evidence from a panel cointegration and error correction model. Energy Economics, 31(2), 211-216. Arellano, M., & Bond, S. (1991). Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. The review of economic studies, 58(2), 277-297. Asongu, S. A., & Odhiambo, N. M. (2021). Inequality and renewable energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa: implication for high-income countries. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 37(2), 382- 398. Asongu, S. A., & Odhiambo, N. M. (2021). Inequality, finance and renewable energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa. Renewable Energy, 165, 678-688. Bahamonde, H., & Trasberg, M. (2021). Inclusive institutions, unequal outcomes: Democracy, state capacity, and income inequality. European Journal of Political Economy, 70, 102048. Balcázar, C. F. (2016). Long-run effects of democracy on income inequality in Latin America. The Journal of Economic Inequality, 14, 289-307. Barak, D. (2022). The impact of income inequality, renewable energy consumption, non-renewable energy consumption and per capita income on poverty: evidence from BRICS economies. Ekonomika, 101(1), 62-83. Batuo, M. E., Kararach, G., & Malki, I. (2022). The dynamics of income inequality in Africa: An empirical investigation on the role of macroeconomic and institutional forces. World Development, 157, 105939. Burke, M. J., & Stephens, J. C. (2018). Political power and renewable energy futures: A critical review. Energy Research & Social Science, 35, 78-93. Bhuiyan, M. A., Zhang, Q., Khare, V., Mikhaylov, A., Pinter, G., & Huang, X. (2022). Renewable energy consumption and economic growth nexus—a systematic literature review. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10, 878394. Blundell, R., & Bond, S. (1998). Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models. Journal of Econometrics, 87(1), 115-143. Cai, W., Mu, Y., Wang, C., & Chen, J. (2014). Distributional employment impacts of renewable and new energy–A case study of China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 39, 1155-1163 Carley, S., & Konisky, D. M. (2020). The justice and equity implications of the clean energy transition. Nature Energy, 5(8), 569-577. Çatık, A. (2024). How do energy consumption, globalisation, and income inequality affect environmental quality across growth regimes? Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 31(7), 10976-10993. Çetin, M., & Eğrican, N. (2011). Employment impacts of solar energy in Turkey. Energy Policy, 39(11), 7184-7190. Chancel, L., Cogneau, D., Gethin, A., Myczkowski, A., & Robilliard, A. S. (2023). Income inequality in Africa, 1990–2019: Measurement, patterns, determinants. World Development, 163, 106162. Chen, C., Pinar, M., & Stengos, T. (2021). Determinants of renewable energy consumption: Importance of democratic institutions. Renewable Energy, 179, 75-83. Couharde, C. and Mouhoud, S. (2020). Fossil fuel subsidies, income inequality, and poverty: evidence from developing countries. Journal of Economic Surveys, 34(5), 981-1006. https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12384 Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Knutsen, C. H., Lindberg, S. I., Teorell, J., Altman, D., Bernhard, M., Cornell, A., Fish, M. S., Gastaldi, L., Gjerløw, H., Glynn, A., Grahn, S., Hicken, A., Kinzelbach, K., Marquardt, K. L., McMann, K., Mechkova, V., Neundorf, A., Paxton, P., Pemstein, D., Rydén, O., von Römer, J., Seim, B., Sigman, R., Skaaning, S.-E., Staton, J., Sundström, A., Tzelgov, E., Uberti, L., Wang, Y., Wig, T., & Ziblatt, D. (2023). V-Dem Codebook v13. Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. Accessed on 05/12/2023 https://v-dem.net/data/dataset-archive/ Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Altman, D., Bernhard, M., Fish, S., Hicken, A., Kroenig, M., Lindberg, S. I., McMann, K., Paxton, P., Semetko, H. A., Skaaning, S.E., Staton, J. & Teorell, J. (2011). Conceptualising and Measuring Democracy: A New Approach. Perspectives on Politics 9(2), 247–267. Coppedge, M., Lindberg, S., Skaaning, S. E., & Teorell, J. (2016). Measuring high-level democratic principles using the V-Dem data. International Political Science Review, 37(5), 580-593. EIA. (2023). United States Energy Information Administration: Primary Energy Statistics. International. Accessed 30/11/2024. https://www.iea.org/energystatistics/annual Fraser, T., Chapman, A. J., & Shigetomi, Y. (2023). Leapfrogging or lagging? Drivers of social equity from renewable energy transitions globally. Energy Research & Social Science, 98, 103006. Gossel, S. (2024). FDI and inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does democracy matter? International Journal of Emerging Markets, 19(1), 33-55. Gozgor, G., Lau, C. K. M., & Lu, Z. (2018). Energy consumption and economic growth: New evidence from the OECD countries. Energy, 153, 27-34. Haar, L. (2020). Inequality and renewable electricity support in the European Union. In Inequality and Energy (pp. 189-220). Academic Press. Halter, D., Oechslin, M., & Zweimüller, J. (2014). Inequality and growth: the neglected time dimension. Journal of Economic Growth, 19, 81-104. Hansen, L. P. (1982). Large sample properties of generalised method of moments estimators. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 50(4), 1029-1054. Heffron, R. J., & McCauley, D. (2014). Achieving sustainable supply chains through energy justice. Applied Energy, 123, 435-437. Huang, H., Roland-Holst, D., Wang, C., & Cai, W. (2020). China’s income gap and inequality under clean energy transformation: A CGE model assessment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 251, 119626. Huang, R., & Yao, X. (2023). The role of power transmission infrastructure in income inequality: Fresh evidence from China. Energy Policy, 177, 113564. IEA, IRENA, UNSD, World Bank, WHO. (2023). Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report. World Bank, Washington DC. IEA (2019). Africa Energy Outlook 2019: World Energy Outlook Special Report. https://www.iea.org/reports/africa-energy-outlook-2019 Inglesi-Lotz, R., & Dogan, E. (2018). The role of renewable versus non-renewable energy to the level of CO2 emissions a panel analysis of sub-Saharan Africa’s Βig 10 electricity generators. Renewable Energy, 123, 36-43. Kang, S. J., & Seo, H. J. (2023). Validity of the Meltzer and Richard hypothesis under captured democracy and policy regime hypotheses. Economic Analysis and Policy, 80, 1732-1749. Lehr, U., Lutz, C., & Edler, D. (2012). Green jobs? Economic impacts of renewable energy in Germany. Energy policy, 47, 358-364. McGee, J. A., & Greiner, P. T. (2018). Can reducing income inequality decouple economic growth from CO2 emissions? Socius, 4, 2378023118772716. McGee, J. A., & Greiner, P. T. (2019). Renewable energy injustice: The socio-environmental implications of renewable energy consumption. Energy Research & Social Science, 56, 101214. Meniago, C., & Asongu, S. A. (2018). Revisiting the finance-inequality nexus in a panel of African countries. Research in International Business and Finance, 46, 399-419. Meltzer, A. H., & Richard, S. F. (1981). A rational theory of the size of government. Journal of Political Economy, 89(5), 914-927. Nikoloski, Z. (2015). Democracy and income inequality: revisiting the long and short-term relationship. Review of Economics and Institutions, 6(2), 1-24. North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge University. Nunoo, J., Taale, F., Ofori, I. K., Mwinlaaru, P. Y., & Adama, A. Y. S. (2024). Human capital and income inequality in Africa: robust governance synergies and thresholds. Cogent Economics & Finance, 12(1), 2417757. Odusola, A. (2017). Fiscal policy, redistribution and inequality in Africa. In A. Odusola, G. A. Cornia, H. Bhorat, & P. Conceiçao (Eds.), Income Inequality Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence, Determinants and Consequences (pp. 1-24). New York, NY: United Nations Development Programme: Regional Bureau for Africa. Ofori, I. K. (2024). Frontier Technology Readiness, Democracy, and Income Inequality in Africa, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Kiel, Hamburg Ofori, I. K., Ojong, N., & Gbolonyo, E. Y. (2024). Foreign Aid, Infrastructure, and the Inclusive Growth Agenda in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Growth and Change, 55(4), e70004. Ofori, I. K., Dossou, M. A., Asongu, S. A., & Armah, M. K. (2023). Bridging Africa’s income inequality gap: How relevant is China’s outward FDI to Africa? Economic Systems, 47(1), 101055. Ofori, I. K., Gbolonyo, E. Y., Dossou, T. A. M., & Nkrumah, R. K. (2022). Remittances and income inequality in Africa: Financial development thresholds for economic policy. Research in Globalisation, 4, 100084. Perera, N., Dissanayake, H., Samson, D., Abeykoon, S., Jayathilaka, R., Jayasinghe, M., & Yapa, S. (2024). The interconnectedness of energy consumption with economic growth: A Granger causality analysis. Heliyon, 10(17). Pereira, D. S., Marques, A. C., & Fuinhas, J. A. (2019). Are renewables affecting income distribution and increasing the risk of household poverty? Energy, 170, 791-803. Priesmann, J., Spiegelburg, S., Madlener, R., & Praktiknjo, A. (2022). Does renewable electricity hurt the poor? Exploring levy programs to reduce income inequality and energy poverty across German households. Energy Research & Social Science, 93, 102812. Rauner, S., Piontek, F., Soergel, B., & Luderer, G. (2024). The impact of energy sector pollution on human development and inequality amidst climate change. Environmental Research Letters, 19(9), 094042. Rodrik, D., Subramanian, A., & Trebbi, F. (2004). Institutions rule: the primacy of institutions over geography and integration in economic development. Journal of Economic Growth, 9, 131-165. Sarkodie, S. A., & Adams, S. (2020). Electricity access, human development index, governance and income inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa. Energy Reports, 6, 455-466. Sharma, R., & Rajpurohit, S. S. (2022). Nexus between income inequality and consumption of renewable energy in India: a nonlinear examination. Economic Change and Restructuring, 55(4), 2337-2358. Solarin, S. (2022). The impact of fossil fuel subsidies on income inequality: accounting for the interactive roles of corruption and economic uncertainty. International Journal of Social Economics, 49(12), 1752-1769. Song, Y., Paramati, S. R., Ummalla, M., Zakari, A., & Kummitha, H. R. (2021). The effect of remittances and FDI inflows on income distribution in developing economies. Economic Analysis and Policy, 72, 255-267. Sonora, R. J. (2022). A panel analysis of income inequality and energy use. Contemporary Economic Policy, 40(1), 83-97 Sovacool, B. K., & Dworkin, M. H. (2015). Energy justice: Conceptual insights and practical applications. Applied Energy, 142, 435-444. Sovacool, B. K. (2012). The political economy of energy poverty: A review of key challenges. Energy for Sustainable Development, 16(3), 272-282. Stern, D. I. (2011). The role of energy in economic growth. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1219(1), 26-51 Topcu, M., & Tugcu, C. T. (2020). The impact of renewable energy consumption on income inequality: Evidence from developed countries. Renewable energy, 151, 1134-1140. Trinugroho, I., Achsanta, A. F., Pamungkas, P., Saputro, N., & Yuniarti, S. (2023). Democracy, economic growth, and income inequality: Evidence from province-level data. Cogent Economics & Finance, 11(1), 2220244. UNU-WIDER (2023). World Income Inequality Database (WIID). Version 28 November 2023. https://doi.org/10.35188/UNU-WIDER/WIID-281123 Uzar, U. (2020). Political economy of renewable energy: Does institutional quality make a difference in renewable energy consumption? Renewable Energy, 155, 591-603. Wong, M. Y. (2021). Democracy, hybrid regimes, and inequality: The divergent effects of contestation and inclusiveness. World Development, 146, 105606. World Bank (2023). World Development Indicators. January Edition. Washington, DC: World Bank. Accessed on 13/10/2024. https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators Xu, J., Zhao, J., & Liu, W. (2023). A comparative study of renewable and fossil fuels energy impacts on green development in Asian countries with divergent income inequality. Resources Policy, 85, 104035. Xu, Q., & Zhong, M. (2023). The impact of income inequity on energy consumption: The moderating role of digitalisation. Journal of Environmental Management, 325, 116464. Zuazu, I. (2022). Electoral systems and income inequality: a tale of political equality. Empirical Economics, 63(2), 793-819. |
URI: | https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/124134 |