IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/enreec/v63y2016i1p119-146.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

ICT and the Demand for Energy: Evidence from OECD Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick Schulte
  • Heinz Welsch
  • Sascha Rexhäuser

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) has been ascribed a crucial role for raising resource and energy efficiency and thereby contributing to environmental abatement. We investigate this conjecture by providing evidence on the relationship between ICT and energy demand. Using a cross-country cross-industry panel data set covering 13 years, 10 OECD countries, and 27 industries, our results show that ICT is associated with a significant reduction in total energy demand. This relationship differs with regard to different types of energy. ICT is negatively related to the demand for non-electric energy, but is not associated with a significant change in the demand for electric energy. Quantitatively, the effect of ICT on energy demand is greater than that on labor demand. The results survive several robustness checks which allow for various forms of heterogeneity and tackle the potential endogeneity of ICT capital. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Schulte & Heinz Welsch & Sascha Rexhäuser, 2016. "ICT and the Demand for Energy: Evidence from OECD Countries," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(1), pages 119-146, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:63:y:2016:i:1:p:119-146
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-014-9844-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10640-014-9844-2
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10640-014-9844-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sabien Dobbelaere & Jacques Mairesse, 2013. "Panel data estimates of the production function and product and labor market imperfections," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 1-46, January.
    2. Mirko Draca & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2006. "Productivity and ICT: A Review of the Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0749, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Hyunbae Chun, 2003. "Information Technology and the Demand for Educated Workers: Disentangling the Impacts of Adoption versus Use," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(1), pages 1-8, February.
    4. Ronald Bernstein & Reinhard Madlener, 2010. "Impact of disaggregated ICT capital on electricity intensity in European manufacturing," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(17), pages 1691-1695.
    5. Dale W. Jorgenson, 2001. "Information Technology and the U.S. Economy," Higher School of Economics Economic Journal Экономический журнал Высшей школы экономики, CyberLeninka;Федеральное государственное автономное образовательное учреждение высшего образования «Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики», vol. 5(1), pages 3-34.
    6. Mary O'Mahony & Marcel P. Timmer, 2009. "Output, Input and Productivity Measures at the Industry Level: The EU KLEMS Database," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(538), pages 374-403, June.
    7. Cho, Youngsang & Lee, Jongsu & Kim, Tai-Yoo, 2007. "The impact of ICT investment and energy price on industrial electricity demand: Dynamic growth model approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 4730-4738, September.
    8. Voigt, Sebastian & De Cian, Enrica & Schymura, Michael & Verdolini, Elena, 2014. "Energy intensity developments in 40 major economies: Structural change or technology improvement?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 47-62.
    9. Eli Berman & John Bound & Zvi Griliches, 1994. "Changes in the Demand for Skilled Labor within U. S. Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 367-397.
    10. Neil Foster-McGregor & Robert Stehrer & Gaaitzen Vries, 2013. "Offshoring and the skill structure of labour demand," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(4), pages 631-662, December.
    11. Kevin J. Stiroh, 2002. "Information Technology and the U.S. Productivity Revival: What Do the Industry Data Say?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1559-1576, December.
    12. O'Mahony, Mary & Robinson, Catherine & Vecchi, Michela, 2008. "The impact of ICT on the demand for skilled labour: A cross-country comparison," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 1435-1450, December.
    13. Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2012. "Productivity Convergence Across Industries and Countries: The Importance of Theory-based Measurement," Chapters, in: Matilde Mas & Robert Stehrer (ed.), Industrial Productivity in Europe, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Stephen Machin & John Van Reenen, 1998. "Technology and Changes in Skill Structure: Evidence from Seven OECD Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1215-1244.
    15. repec:dgr:rugggd:gd-109 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Takase, Kae & Murota, Yasuhiro, 2004. "The impact of IT investment on energy: Japan and US comparison in 2010," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(11), pages 1291-1301, July.
    17. Alexander Hijzen & Holger Görg & Robert C. Hine, 2005. "International Outsourcing and the Skill Structure of Labour Demand in the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(506), pages 860-878, October.
    18. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Smith, Ron, 1995. "Estimating long-run relationships from dynamic heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 79-113, July.
    19. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    20. Robert Inklaar & Marcel Timmer, 2007. "International Comparisons of Industry Output, Inputs and Productivity Levels: Methodology and New Results," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 343-363.
    21. Guy Michaels & Ashwini Natraj & John Van Reenen, 2010. "Has ICT Polarized Skill Demand? Evidence from Eleven Countries over 25 Years," CEP Discussion Papers dp0987, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    22. Kurt Kratena, 2007. "Technical Change, Investment and Energy Intensity," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 295-314.
    23. Welsch, Heinz & Ochsen, Carsten, 2005. "The determinants of aggregate energy use in West Germany: factor substitution, technological change, and trade," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 93-111, January.
    24. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    25. Sadorsky, Perry, 2012. "Information communication technology and electricity consumption in emerging economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 130-136.
    26. Serletis, Apostolos & Timilsina, Govinda & Vasetsky, Olexandr, 2011. "International evidence on aggregate short-run and long-run interfuel substitution," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 209-216, March.
    27. Markus Eberhardt, 2012. "Estimating panel time-series models with heterogeneous slopes," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 12(1), pages 61-71, March.
    28. Berndt, Ernst R. & Hesse, Dieter M., 1986. "Measuring and assessing capacity utilization in the manufacturing sectors of nine oecd countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 961-989, October.
    29. Berndt, Ernst R & Wood, David O, 1975. "Technology, Prices, and the Derived Demand for Energy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 57(3), pages 259-268, August.
    30. Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los & Robert Stehrer & Marcel Timmer & Gaaitzen de Vries, 2013. "The Construction Of World Input-Output Tables In The Wiod Project," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 71-98, March.
    31. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1998. "Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed the Labor Market?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1169-1213.
    32. Sue Wing, Ian, 2008. "Explaining the declining energy intensity of the U.S. economy," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 21-49, January.
    33. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    34. Collard, Fabrice & Feve, Patrick & Portier, Franck, 2005. "Electricity consumption and ICT in the French service sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 541-550, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dirk Bursian & Arne J. Nagengast, 2020. "Offshoring And The Polarization Of The Demand For Capital," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(1), pages 260-282, January.
    2. Dehghan Shabani, Zahra & Shahnazi, Rouhollah, 2019. "Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, information and communications technology, and gross domestic product in Iranian economic sectors: A panel causality analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1064-1078.
    3. Schulte, Patrick, 2021. "Skill Bias magnified: Identifying the role of international technology diffusion," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    4. Peng, Fei & Anwar, Sajid & Kang, Lili, 2017. "New technology and old institutions: An empirical analysis of the skill-biased demand for older workers in Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-19.
    5. Wurlod, Jules-Daniel & Noailly, Joëlle, 2018. "The impact of green innovation on energy intensity: An empirical analysis for 14 industrial sectors in OECD countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 47-61.
    6. Edquist, Harald & Henrekson, Magnus, 2017. "Swedish lessons: How important are ICT and R&D to economic growth?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1-12.
    7. Hyunbae Chun & Sung‐Bae Mun, 2006. "Substitutability and Accumulation of Information Technology Capital in U.S. Industries," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(4), pages 1002-1015, April.
    8. Taneja, Shivani & Mandys, Filip, 2022. "The effect of disaggregated information and communication technologies on industrial energy demand," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    9. Kouton, Jeffrey, 2019. "Information Communication Technology development and energy demand in African countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    10. Schulte, Patrick, 2015. "Does skill-biased technical change diffuse internationally?," ZEW Discussion Papers 15-088, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Meschi, Elena & Taymaz, Erol & Vivarelli, Marco, 2011. "Trade, technology and skills: Evidence from Turkish microdata," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 60-70.
    12. T. Gries & R. Grundmann & I. Palnau & M. Redlin, 2017. "Innovations, growth and participation in advanced economies - a review of major concepts and findings," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 293-351, April.
    13. Piva, Mariacristina & Santarelli, Enrico & Vivarelli, Marco, 2005. "The skill bias effect of technological and organisational change: Evidence and policy implications," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 141-157, March.
    14. Medina-Durango, Carlos Alberto & Posso Suárez, Christian Manuel & Tamayo, Jorge A. & Monsalve, Emma, 2012. "Dinámica de la demanda laboral en la industria manufacturera colombiana 1993-2009 : una estimación panel VAR," Chapters, in: Arango-Thomas, Luis Eduardo & Hamann-Salcedo, Franz Alonso (ed.), El mercado de trabajo en Colombia : hechos, tendencias e instituciones, chapter 7, pages 289-330, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    15. Baiardi, Donatella & Bianchi, Carluccio & Lorenzini, Eleonora, 2015. "The price and income elasticities of the top clothing exporters: Evidence from a panel data analysis," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 14-30.
    16. Bernd Görzig & Martin Gornig & Laurence Nayman, 2012. "Productivity Transitions in Large Mature Economies: France, Germany and the UK," Chapters, in: Matilde Mas & Robert Stehrer (ed.), Industrial Productivity in Europe, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Getinet Haile & Ilina Srour & Marco Vivarelli, 2014. "Globalization and Technology Transfer in Ethiopia: Their Impact on Domestic Employment and Skills," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali dises1498, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    18. Ketteni, Elena & Mamuneas, Theofanis & Stengos, Thanasis, 2011. "The Effect Of Information Technology And Human Capital On Economic Growth," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(5), pages 595-615, November.
    19. Sotiris Blanas, 2019. "The distinct effects of information technologies and communication technologies on the age-skill composition of labour demand," Working Paper Research 365, National Bank of Belgium.
    20. Sabien Dobbelaere & Mark Vancauteren, 2014. "Market imperfections, skills and total factor productivity : Firm-level evidence on Belgium and the Netherlands," Working Paper Research 267, National Bank of Belgium.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy demand; Energy efficiency; Environmental policy; Green growth; ICT; OECD countries; Technical change; O33; O44; Q41; Q43;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:63:y:2016:i:1:p:119-146. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.