The copper production and economic growth nexus across the regional and global levels

This study examined the copper production and economic growth nexus across the countries with a higher copper production in the regional and global levels from 2002 to 2016. The testing framework (cross-sectional dependence, panel unit root, and cointegration tests) and panel common corrected effects mean group (CCEMG) and cross-sectionally augmented distributed lags (CS-DL) estimators were employed. The main findings showed that all selected variables are cross-sectionally dependent and integrated at the first order, which implies the existence of long-run cointegration relationships. Except in Africa and Middle-East, copper production significantly contributes to increasing economic growth across the regional and global levels. Moreover, a unidirectional causal relationship running from economic growth to copper production is detected in Africa and Middle-East, and North-America. This causal link is running from copper production to economic growth in Europe and Central-Asia and at the global level. A bidirectional causal link was detected in Asia-Pacific, while the neutral causal link was noted in South and Central America. This study suggested the potential policy implications to strengthen the link between copper production and growth with respect to labor and capital.