Financial stability, energy consumption and environmental quality: Evidence from South Asian economies

A few studies are found on the relationship between financial instability, energy consumption and environmental quality in energy economics literature. The current study is an endeavor to fill this gap by investigating the relationship between financial stability, economic growth, energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in South Asian countries over the period 1980–2012 using a multivariate framework. Bounds test for cointegration and Granger causality approach are employed for the empirical analysis. Estimated results suggest that all variables are non-stationary and cointegrated. The results show that financial stability improves environmental quality; while the increase in economic growth, energy consumption and population density are detrimental for environment quality in the long-run. The results also support the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis which assumes an inverted U-shaped path between income and environmental quality. Moreover, the study found the evidence of unidirectional causality running from financial stability to CO2 emissions in two countries i.e. Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The findings of this study open up new insight for policy makers to design a comprehensive financial, economic and energy supply policies to minimize the detrimental impact of environmental pollution.