A structural VAR analysis of electricity consumption and real GDP : evidence from the G7 countries

In this paper, we depart from the literature on electricity consumption–real GDP in that for the first time we examine the reaction of real GDP to shocks in electricity consumption. To achieve this goal, we use the structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model and examine the impact of electricity consumption shocks on real GDP for the G7 countries. We find that except for the USA, electricity consumption has a statistically significant positive impact on real GDP over short horizons. This finding implies that except for the USA, electricity conservation policies will hurt real GDP in the G7 countries.