Carbon dioxide emissions, economic growth, industrial structure, and technical efficiency: Empirical evidence from Ghana, Senegal, and Morocco on the causal dynamics

This paper investigated the short-run causal relationships and the long-run equilibrium relationships among carbon dioxide emissions, economic growth, technical efficiency, and industrial structure for three African countries. Using Bounds cointegration approach the result showed evidence of multiple long-run equilibrium relationships for Ghana and Senegal but a one-way long-run equilibrium relationship for Morocco. The result from the Toda and Yomamoto granger causality test showed a mix of bidirectional, unidirectional, and neutral relationships for all countries. Whilst in Senegal carbon dioxide emission was not found to be a limiting factor to economic growth; it was found to act as a limiting factor to economic growth in Morocco and Ghana. Lastly, the result from the variance decomposition analysis revealed that economic growth contributes largely to changes in future carbon dioxide emissions in Senegal and Morocco whilst in Ghana technical efficiency contributes largely to changes in future variations in carbon dioxide emissions. These results have important policy implications for these countries' energy efficiency systems.